By support

10th Aug, 2016 | 8:14pm

President: West Ham have tabled attacking midfielder bid, talks planned this week

By Harvey Byrne

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has revealed that he is planning to reach an agreement to extend Rachid Ghezzal’s contract at the club.

French newspaper L’Equipe claimed on Tuesday that the Hammers have submitted a bid of £6.8million plus bonuses for the Lyon attacking midfielder.

The Ligue 1 giants president has confirmed that the east London club had made a bid for the 24-year-old but he is planning to extend the contract of the player, who has one-year left on his deal.

“He wants me to talk with his advisors and so I’m going to call them this week to try to break the deadlock,” said Aulas as quoted by Sky Sports citing L’Equipe.

“I like Rachid a lot. It would be really good if we might be able to reach an agreement. We have received offers for him, including the one from West Ham.

“I know that Rachid doesn’t want to leave Lyon so we have to find an agreement so as not to remain in a situation that’s not good for either of the two parties involved.”

The Hammers are looking to bring in attacking reinforcements with doubts surrounding Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia, who are likely to leave East London this summer.

Ghezzal can play on either side of the attack, predominantly starting on the right flank and being able to cut inside onto his left-foot. He is also able to play behind the striker as a number 10.

The Lyon academy graduate has six Algeria caps, scoring his first goal for El Khadra against Ethiopia.

Ghezzal has made 81 Lyon appearances in all competitions after signing with the French ginats when he was just 12 years old.

He made his debut at 20 years of age against Israeli club Ironi Kiryat Shmona, and has scored 11 goals during his Les Gones career.

In other West Ham transfer news, Juventus striker Simone Zaza is set to be offered to Chelsea.