West Ham United are interested in a deal to bring Sven Botman to the London Stadium in the January transfer window.

What's the talk?

That's according to a claim made by ExWHUemployee, who revealed in a recent post on The West Ham Way that David Moyes' side have made an enquiry with LOSC Lille ahead of a potential move for the centre-back in the winter window.

The Hammers insider went on to claim that the French market is one that West Ham will be looking to take advantage of in January, as a number of Ligue 1 sides are suffering from considerable financial difficulties this season.

In his post, ExWHUemployee said: "We have made an enquiry [to] Lille [for] 21-year-old centre back Sven Botman. As revealed previously we are very much looking at the French market as there are a number of clubs suffering financial difficulties."

Fans will be buzzing

Considering the sheer amount of potential Botman quite clearly possesses, in addition to the fact that both Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna look set to spend a considerable amount of time sidelined due to injury, the news that West Ham are interested in a move for the 21-year-old defender is sure to have left fans of the club buzzing.

Indeed, over his 37 Ligue 1 appearances last season, the £27m-rated centre-back helped his side keep a whopping 20 clean sheets, in addition to making an average of 1.5 interceptions, 0.8 tackles, 60.6 passes and winning 68% of his duels per game.

These returns saw the Netherlands U21 international who Kevin Phillips dubbed a "Van Dijk-like signing" earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.08, ranking him as Lille's joint third-best player in the top flight of French football on their way to securing the Ligue 1 title.

As such, should West Ham be able to get a deal for the £18k-per-week defender over the line this January, it would undoubtedly be a major coup for the Hammers, as well as a signing who would greatly increase the club's chances of securing a top-four finish in the league come next May.

However, with it being reported that Lille are demanding a figure of around £40m in order to part with the youngster this January, whether or not the West Ham board cough up the funds very much remains to be seen.

In other news: Forget Ogbonna: WHU must seal swoop for £65k-p/w "monster" who's "absolutely insane"