Al Ain loan striker Emenike emerges as West Ham target

West Ham United could shelve plans to sign injury-hit Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge and instead turn their attentions to his club-mate Christian Benteke.

However, when asked about the speculation by reporters, Bilic described it as “only paper talk”.

Sturridge has not trained with the Liverpool squad in six weeks, and manager Jurgen Klopp is reported to be growing increasingly frustrated with the situation.

“What if? I would take Lionel Messi also, but it is only an “if” so there is nothing in it”.

Bilic also confirmed both Carroll and Sakho are “ahead of schedule” in their efforts to recover from injury.

Fernandinho is widely seen as being City’s player of the season so far, so his return will be welcome, although it does leave Pellegrini with something of a selection dilemma in midfield.

Former Liverpool FC midfielder Didi Hamann has demanded answers from the club, insisting that the Anfield outfit should be honest in communicating the 26-year-old’s injury situation to the paying supporters.

“It is more important to get the real education and that is what we want to try”.

Slaven Bilic says West Ham are still looking for new players this month, though he stressed the club will not be forced into panic buys.

“He’s been on our radar for quite a while and we have very high hopes and expectations for him”.

“He has not had any team training since Newcastle and that is not a situation where we can think about him”.

“We’ve earmarked some players and whether it be now or in the summer we will try and sign the same players”, he told LUTV.

“There have to be doubts whether Sturridge can cope physically with the system that Klopp plays”.