West Ham United are confident of completing a loan deal for Nigerian international Emmanuel Emenike to ease the club’s striker crisis.

Hammers manager Slaven Bilic has been hit by injuries to Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll, leaving him with Nikica Jelavic as his only out-and-out senior striker.

Jelavic has a lucrative offer from China and West Ham had been preparing to let the Croatian go, but now need to bring cover in.

Emenike has been on loan at Al Ain from Turkish club Fenerbahce and scored nine goals in 15 games for the Abu Dhabi team before the temporary deal ended this month.

West Ham have already achieved success in taking a player from Abu Dhabi, having signed midfielder Manuel Lanzini from Al Jazira in the summer.

Emenike has played 37 times for Nigeria, scoring nine goals, and has also played for Spartak Moscow.

West Ham will initially take 28-year-old Emenike on loan until the end of the season before reassessing their options in the summer, when Manchester City’s Wilfried Bony is likely to be among their top targets.

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan confirmed that the club are in talks with a new striker by saying: “There's a possibility that a striker will come in on loan, with the option to buy, within the next seven days. He's an overseas striker.

“If I told you, you wouldn't believe it. I can't tell you which league because then you'll know exactly who it is. We are signing from a very strange league. But he has played in higher leagues.”

Source: http://www.footballgists.com