Sunderland have knocked back West Ham’s move for Jermain Defoe – and insisted he is not for sale. Mirror Sport understands West Ham have made official contact and are willing to pay £5m for the 34-year-old striker but the approach was immediately rebuffed.

That may not deter West Ham from making a bigger bid while Crystal Palace boss Sam Allardyce is also watching developments with interest. Defoe has already scored 11 goals this season but West Ham believe the former Tottenham and Hammers striker is interested in a move back to London.

They wasted no time in making a move as soon as the January transfer window opened as West Ham look to bring in a prolific striker to secure their Premier League safety.

Sunderland boss David Moyes has insisted that Defoe is “invaluable” and will not be sold at any price. www.mirror.co.uk

If we have already had a £5 million bid rejected, how much higher do you think we should go? Sunderland would be crazy to sell their main goalscorer in the middle of a relegation scrap in my opinion and I do wonder if we will just be wasting our time and I daresay a lot of money trying to buy him. What do you think? How much time should we allocate to try and complete any deal for Defoe? What is the maximum you think we should pay for him? Do you even want Defoe?

Maybe Defoe is just a smokescreen and we have another player in mind! For me, I think we should pay a maximum of £7.5 million with him on a 2 year deal with maybe a one year option. £7.5 seems a lot to pay for a 34 year old, but we have wasted the same amount on our loans for Zaza, Calleri and Töre haven’t we?

UPDATE at 14:30: According to Sky Sports, West Ham United are reported to have upped the bid for Defoe to £6 million. This new offer has also been rejected by Sunderland.