West Ham forward ready to quit the club in January, with transfer to sleeping giant already underway

A West Ham attacker is ‘open’ to leaving the club next month and contact between his camp and French side Lyon has already taken place, per reports. 

Hammers boss David Moyes does not lack for options in the wide positions. Jarrod Bowen is a winger by trade, though has spent much of the current campaign deputising up top.

Mohammed Kudus is quickly proving value for money on the back of his £38m switch from Ajax last summer.

The Ghanaian notched his ninth goal of the campaign for West Ham in the 2-0 victory over Manchester United on Saturday. Beyond him, Moyes can also call upon Lucas Paqueta, Said Benrahma, Pablo Fornals and Maxwel Cornet.

Bowen, Kudus and Paqueta have been near-automatic selections of late, something that has left Benrahma grappling with a reduced role.

The Algerian hasn’t started a Premier League match for West Ham since the 3-2 defeat to Brentford on November 4.

Since that time, the lively wideman been used from the bench twice and remained an unused substitute on five occasions.

Now, according to both French outlet L’Equipe as well as talkSPORT, Benrahma could become a Lyon player in the upcoming transfer window.

Lyon contact Benrahma’s camp; forward ‘open’ to leaving West Ham

Firstly, L’Equipe, state Lyon have made contact with Benrahma’s camp and the 28-year-old is receptive to their approach.

The player is reportedly open to changing clubs next month and Lyon are ready to splash the cash.

The French side currently reside all the way down in 15th position in Ligue 1 and per L’Equipe, are ready to spend their way out of trouble. To that end, Lyon are said to have amassed a €50m war chest for winter window moves.

Benrahma is labelled a ‘key target’ for the sleeping French giant and talkSPORT back up L’Equipe’s reporting.

They confirm Benrahma is a wanted man in Lyon and the forward is ‘open’ to leaving West Ham.

How much Lyon are prepared to bid wasn’t stated in either piece. Benrahma cost the Hammers £25m plus £5m in add-ons when signed from Brentford back in the January window of 2021.

Online outlet Transfermarkt estimate the winger’s current worth to be around the £19m mark.

Benrahma told time’s up at West Ham

Responding to the Benrahma to Lyon links, former West Ham player and assistant manager, Stuart Pearce, suggested the time is right for Benrahma to experience a new challenge.

“It’s not come as a surprise to me,” admitted Pearce.

“I think I read somewhere that Saudi [Arabia] might be interested in him as well.

“I don’t think he’s played regularly enough and consistently enough here to say they need to hang on to him.

“It might be time for him to move on potentially and reinvest the money.”

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