West Ham plan audacious bid for sought after Serie A star

Slaven Bilic is keen to make a bold big money move for Napoli hotshot Dries Mertens according to The Sun.

The Belgian has enjoyed by far his most prolific season to date in Serie A, scoring his 25th league goal of the season at the weekend, though there has been much speculation surrounding his future in Naples.

The 30-year-old’s contract is up next summer and he is thought to be tempted by the prospect of testing himself in another league, leading to interest from the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea.

With such high profile sides thought to be monitoring the forward’s situation, a bid from West Ham would certainly be ambitious, but the club have been hoping to make a marquee signing of a striker for some time now.

Mertens has only really made a role as a centre forward his own this season following injury to Arkadiusz Milik but he’s flourished up front, and was in fine form once more against Torino on Sunday. As well as a goal to take him to 25 in Serie A, he bagged another two assists - now on 8 for the season - as Napoli romped to a 5-0 victory.