This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

West Ham are planning to sell Jordan Hugill in January for a reduced price of £5m, report Football Insider.

What's the story?

There was a lot of speculation over the summer surrounding the future of Hugill before he eventually made the loan switch to QPR towards the end of the transfer window.

Clubs such as Wigan and Preston were said to be interested in the striker, with the former reported to have agreed a fee with the Hammers.

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That agreement was thought to have been in the region of £3.6m, and therefore his goalscoring form could be a reason why the East London outfit want £5m.

Despite that, it is thought that Pellegrini is yet to be persuaded that he is good enough to compete for a first-team place, and therefore the club is willing to accept a loss on the player they signed for £10m in 2018.

Future at West Ham?

Hugill has only featured for the Hammers on three occasions, but his lack of opportunities thus far doesn't mean that he should be continually overlooked by his manager.

He has six goals in 11 games for the R's this campaign, playing well alongside Nahki Wells, and the pair are a big reason behind their team's early-season success, with six wins in 11 league games.

Added to that, he could also fit Pellegrini's current style and given the scarcity of strikers in the current squad he would be the most like-for-like replacement for Haller should the German pick up an injury.

Albian Ajeti so far looks unable to fulfil the lone striker role and as that would leave Hugill as the only other option available to Pellegrini, he shouldn't be sold.

The 27-year-old is likely high on confidence due to his form and his strength allows him to hold the ball up effectively, bringing his more creative teammates into play which is a similar role to what Haller performs.