ins and outs

[histon]

Ins: Scott Parker (Newcastle, £7m), Julien Faubert (Bordeaux, £6.1m), Richard Wright (Everton, free)

Outs: Nigel Reo-Coker (Aston Villa, £8.5m), Tyrone Mears (Derby, £1m)

[jayp]

Nicolas Anelka is on the brink of a move to West Ham. A record bid of £ 12 million has been placed for the former Arsenal forward.

Nicolas Anelka has been linked with a move to Arsenal, but now it looks likely that the French international will join West Ham if Bolton accepts the bid.

Today Sir Alex Ferguson also hints that if a move for Carlos Tevez never happens hi might try to sign Anelka for Man Utd.

[jayp]

Despite agreeing a €10m (£6.8m) fee with Barcelona to sign Eidur Gudjohnsen, West Ham are facing strong competition from Manchester City and Newcastle United for the striker. At the same time West Ham are also pursuing the Australian midfielder Mark Bresciano whose £4m move to City has stalled.

Manchester United dropped out of the running for Gudjohnsen following their capture of Carlos Tevez. But despite the interest, and Barça's willingness to sell, the former Chelsea player is at present indicating that he wants to stay where he is for one more season having only been in Spain for a year.

That may change if he does not feature in the first team with West Ham concentrating their efforts on persuading the Icelander that his future lies with them. They will match his Barça wages – which would smash their own pay structure – and are not at present pursuing any other strikers, having given up on Bolton's Nicolas Anelka because of his personal demands and deciding that Middlesbrough's Yakubu is vastly overpriced.

It still appears that Gudjohnsen is a long-term project, although there is hope he may arrive this summer – "time will tell," the chairman Eggert Magnusson said yesterday – but Bresciano, who plays for the Italian side Palermo and featured in the Uefa Cup against West Ham last season, is a definite target. West Ham are looking for a right-sided midfielder following the serious injury to Julien Faubert and the collapse of Kieron Dyer's move to Upton Park.

Magnusson said the Dyer deal was "dead at the moment" following Newcastle's decision to raise the asking price from £6m to £8m even if West Ham claim they have written confirmation that the lower fee had been agreed. "They cannot come back and ask for £2m more," he said.

He also confirmed his club's interest in Giles Barnes but said that the indications were Derby don't want to sell. "There is no secret that we are interested in Giles Barnes. We also know that Derby don't want to sell at the moment."

West Ham have also not given up hope of signing the left-back Nicky Shorey who wants to join them after turning down a new contract. It's believed that although Reading have said the £5m-rated England international is not for sale they are actively seeking a replacement. If one is found quickly he can move to West Ham before the end of the transfer window.