Boss Joe Royle has confirmed that West Ham have shown interest in striker Dean Bowditch and that he may sell players to strengthen his squad. National newspaper reports on Monday claimed the Hammers were ready to spend £1 million on the England U19 international in January.

Royle said: "There is no secret that I would like to strengthen my squad, and there are ways and means of doing this.

"If when the transfer window opens the best deals can be achieved by moving out one of our players then that would be considered.

"West Ham have been fans of Dean Bowditch for a long while, but I stress there is nothing happening at the moment to take that forward.

"I am under no financial pressure from the board to transfer players. As we have said so many times over the last few weeks there is money available to bring in a loan player or even two when the right man comes along."

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