West Ham are actively pursuing a move for one club's leader of assists, as they believe he could be available for an attainable fee in January.
West Ham could look to sign new full-backs
While a lot of the transfer talk at West Ham has been around a move for Man City midfielder Kalvin Phillips and a potential new forward, there are also suggestions that they could look to bring in a new full-back.
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First-choice right-back Vladimir Coufal is out of contract next summer, while left-back Aaron Cresswell is set to leave the club as a free agent come the end of this season.
Manager David Moyes is short of alternatives behind Emerson Palmieri on that side with Cresswell nearing a departure, while Coufal alternative Ben Johnson is also looking very likely to leave West Ham this year as well when his deal expires.
West Ham could find themselves very short of options on both flanks sooner rather than later, which has led to co-chairman David Sullivan and technical director Tim Steidten weighing up new wide defenders.
The Manchester Evening News claimed last week that the Irons have made an approach to sign Man United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka as one option, while Wolves' Nelson Semedo is another sporadically linked with a move to West Ham.
Versatile defender Thilo Kehrer's future also looks far away from the London Stadium following his loan move to AS Monaco, making the need for another full-back option even more prevalent. However, with funds limited this month, West Ham will need to be clever.
The Asian market is one which has provided a lot of transfer success at other clubs, perhaps most notably the likes of Celtic, and it could be a fruitful talent pool for West Ham.
West Ham actively pursuing Yukinari Sugawara
That is according to Football Transfers, who also claim West Ham are actively pursuing a move for AZ Alkmaar right-back Yukinari Sugawara.
The 23-year-old, who is currently at the Asia Cup with Japan, is attracting real interest from Steidten alongside fellow Asian star Seol Young-woo.
The West Ham transfer chief believes both Sugawara and Young-woo can be signed at a "reasonable price" in January as he looks to find full-back solutions outside of Europe.
It is Sugawara, though, who stands out as the most interesting name here. Indeed, the versatile right-back, who can also play further forward as a winger, has dazzled for Alkmaar this season.
He's started 16 Eredivisie games as one of their best-performing players per 90 according to WhoScored, all while leading the way for them in terms of league assists.
Sugawara has been a mainstay for AZ since the 2021/2022 season and bagged eight assists in total last season for them, leaving little wonder he's now turned heads at West Ham as they scour for new full-back options.