By Wayne Veysey

12th Aug, 2016 | 4:52pm

Attacking midfielder demoted to reserves after West Ham bid

By Joe Nelson

West Ham target Rachid Ghezzal has been sent to train with the Lyon reserve team for the rest of the week, it emerged on Friday.

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 Lyon official Twitter account quoted manager Bruno Genesio as saying that Ghezzal has been ordered to play with the second string.

Club president Jean-Michel Aulas told L’Equipe that Ghezzal wants to stay at the club but admits there is interest in the 24-year-old.

“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.”

With doubts surrounding Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia’s future, Slaven Bilic is obviously keen to bring in another attack-minded player.

However, Ronald Koeman has also set hit sights on the Algerian, according to The Express.

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 giants 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 news, Jamie Redknapp says that this emerging talent will be worth £50million soon.