West Ham could finally end their nightmare of a striker search after an exciting claim emerged this week...

What's the word?

According to ExWHUemployee on a recent episode of 'The West Ham Way' podcast, the Irons hold an interest in out-of-contract Torino star Andrea Belotti.

It's not the first time that the east London outfit have been linked to the Italy international, with some reports in Italy claiming back in May that the Hammers were the 'front-runners' to seal his signature.

Meanwhile, there seems little chance of him signing an extention at his current club, so West Ham could sign a pre-contract agreement with him from January.

"Andrea Belotti has chances to leave Torino as [a] free agent next summer, as things stand now," revealed transfer expert Fabrizio Romano. "He’s out of contract in June 2022 and he has not accepted yet last Torino proposal to extend [his] current deal."

Bargain solution

It's fast approaching the two-year mark since club-record flop Sebastien Haller departed the London Stadium for Eredivisie champions Ajax and perhaps quite shockingly, he has never been replaced.

That's a troubling prospect considering Michail Antonio, 31, has been dealt with several injury problems over the course of his Irons career, having failed to start more than 24 league games in any of the last four seasons.

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Belotti, who will cost GSB absolutely nothing, seems like a worthwhile solution.

The Euro 2020 champion has proven to be a very prolific marksman in the Serie A over several years, hitting double figures in every campaign since 2015/16, with a career-best of 28 goals coming in 2016/17, as per Transfermarkt.

It's no wonder former Hammer, Joe Hart, gave a glowing endorsement of the Italian striker to journalist Gianluca Di Marzio.

"Andrea is similar to all the great strikers, English and not. It's hard to compare him to someone else because he's special. He's Belotti and that's it. He has [an] instinct for goals, personality and he's a team player: he's always focused on his team and plays hard to help it."

The 41-time international is currently valued at £31.5m by Transfermarkt, so Newman and co would certainly be landing themselves a complete bargain, on the above evidence.

Ex is one of the most reliable in the business when it comes to West Ham, so if he claims there is interest in the forward, then he should be believed. Therefore, many around east London should be excited by this news.

AND in other news, West Ham receive huge fitness boost ahead of Wolves clash...