West Ham United are one of the sides in the race to sign Lewis O'Brien in the summer transfer window.

What's the talk?

That's according to a claim made by James Marshment, with the TEAMtalk journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that, alongside Leeds United, the Hammers are keeping a very close eye on the situation of the Huddersfield Town midfielder ahead of a potential swoop this summer.

Marshment goes on to state that the 23-year-old is thought to have a release clause written into his current contract at The John Smith's Stadium, which is believed to be worth around £12m.

In his post, the journalist said:

"TEAMtalk understands that West Ham are in the race to sign Lewis O'Brien, who has long been a player of interest to Leeds. Huddersfield midfielder has a release clause in his deal, which is believed to be set at £12m."

Huge upgrade

Considering just how impressive O'Brien has been for Huddersfield this season, coupled with how little Alex Kral has featured since his temporary move to east London last summer, it is easy to see why David Moyes and his transfer team would be interested in a move for the Englishman this summer.

Indeed, over his 30 Championship appearances in the current campaign, the £2.7m-rated box-to-box midfielder has been in excellent form for Carlos Corberan's side, scoring two goals, registering two assists and creating three big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.1 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game.

The £8k-per-week man has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 0.9 interceptions, 2.5 tackles, 30.1 passes and winning a whopping 7.9 duels - at a success rate of 55% - per fixture.

These returns have seen the player Corberan dubbed a "very special" talent average a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.01, ranking him as the Terriers' fourth-best player in the second tier of English football.

As such, considering the fact that O'Brien's release clause is believed to be around £5m less than West Ham's reported £17m option to buy Kral - a player who has featured just six times in six months with the Hammers - it is clear to see that the Huddersfield dynamo would not only be a huge upgrade on the Czech Republic international, but also a much cheaper option for the club.

In other news: Moyes can form "outrageous" West Ham duo with bargain swoop for £49.5m-rated "creator"