Good evening.
Here is a round-up of West Ham related stories gathered from newspapers and the internet on Thursday 28/12/16.

Bilic on January transfer window. Evra link not true.

Bilic said: “I think we are the Club that are linked with the most players in Europe. 95 per cent of that is not true. It is definitely not true with Evra. He’s a great player but in that position we are well covered. “You have boxes you would like and you want the players to tick all the boxes. Young, cheap, scoring goals, if they have experience in the Premier League, they are handsome! “Unfortunately you can’t have players like that all the time as other clubs are looking for them. We are trying so many times. English and British players have priority as this is an English club.

“Even the great players need time to settle in. That is why we are looking for players who play in this league, then the risk is lower. But therefore the players are very expensive or very few, but we are trying to find them.“In the African Cup we will be without Kouyate, Ayew, Feghouli, that’s three, Sakho is not involved as he us injured.“We don’t have a big squad, but without three of them we are good if we don’t get any injuries or suspensions but we are a bit overstretched. “We’re not panicking. We’re trying to get a couple, maximum of three but we won’t buy for the sake of it. whufc.com

Slaven Bilic refuses to rule out move for Jermain Defoe in January.

Former West Ham forward Defoe, who left the club acrimoniously in 2004, has eight top-flight goals for Sunderland this season. He is 34. Bilic said: “He’s a very good player. Defoe is scoring goals and that is important.

“I have a few midfielders from different countries telling me his movement is the best of strikers they have played with. He’s someone else’s player so I don’t want to talk about it.” mirror.co.uk

Oxford returns to first team training.

Reece Oxford was back in first team training this week as he continues his recovery from injury. The Hammers were preparing for the New Years’ Day trip to Leicester City at their Rush Green base as they took on the cold and frost to put some hard work in. Whufc.com takes a look at some of the best pictures from the training session. whufc.com

Lanzini back in contention.

Bilic said: “Manuel Lanzini will train with us and we will see for Leicester because he got a knock in his abdominal part (of his body) against Hull and missed the Swansea game. “He missed a few training sessions but will be back with us for the first time (on Thursday) so we will see for the Leicester game. “Everyone else who played in the Swansea game should be okay. We had a regeneration session for the players who featured against Swansea on Wednesday.

“Obiang is back from suspension and we are going to have a good team.” There was more good news on the injury front after Bilic revealed that talented duo Sam Byram and Reece Oxford are also back training with the first-team squad this week. Byram has been ruled out of action since the start of October after picking up a hamstring injury during the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough. “Next week we should have James Collins back as well. A few of them are going to be back in action.” whufc.com

We are happy that Manuel Lanzini, Simone Zaza, Reece Oxford and Sam Byram are all back in training with the first-team squad.

From the Treatment Room.

We have five injuries at present – Diafra Sakho, Arthur Masuaku, Alvaro Arbeloa, Gokhan Tore – and James Collins, who is set to return to training next week. All the other senior players are in full training.After suffering back pain, Diafra underwent a successful operation before Christmas. He is currently resting and will undergo a period of rehabilitation with the aim of returning him to the pitch in the spring. Arthur injured his knee in training and is still several weeks away from a return.

Ginge pulled his calf in the game against Arsenal. He is working individually on the pitch and in the gym rebuilding his fitness. Alvaro is recovering from a nasty contusion he suffered in the Arsenal game. He has been on crutches for a few weeks but started a more active recovery phase on Wednesday. He will be out for several more weeks. Gokhan has undergone knee surgery in Europe after suffering a serious injury in training and is now continuing his rehabilitation with his parent club, Besiktas. He will be out for a long period. whufc.com