West Ham hope to complete loan deal for Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike

Slaven Bilic hopes to complete a loan deal for
Emmanuel Emenike in the next couple of days.

Bilic wants the Nigeria striker, who has scored
seven goals in 11 games for the UAE side Al Ain this
season, to boost his attacking options for the
Premier League run-in.

Emenike is currently on loan from Fenerbahce,
however, and the deal is being held up by
negotiations with the Turkish club. “We are still
waiting for that, it’s a complicated situation,” said
Bilic.

“Al Ain called me and basically we thought we
could do a straight swap with them, but now we
are talking to Fenerbahce, and we will see what
happens.

“At the beginning it looked easy, between two
clubs, but then when we had to deal with
Fenerbahce, who are a third party. So at one
moment it didn’t look good, but in that last couple
of days the deal looks pretty much alive.”

Bilic had earmarked the Galatasaray striker Burak
Yilmaz as a potential alternative if the Emenike
deal fell through, but the Hammers are only
interested in a loan. “With Burak it’s a different
situation as they are looking to sell and we are not
buying,” he added.