West Ham are considering approaching UEFA over the deal which saw Eli Junior Kroupi move to Bournemouth.

Late on in the January transfer window, it was reported that West Ham were in negotiations with French club Lorient, with strong confidence that a deal would be reached.

It’s understood that the club tabled a package of circa £35m for the prolific and highly rated 18 year old striker, however despite the agreement, talks stalled with suggestions being that agents were trying to obtain other clubs to come in for the player.

Chelsea were heavily linked as were Bournemouth, however West Ham were considered favourites, with the agreement likely to be enough to get Kroupi to put pen to paper and head to east London.

Then suddenly it appeared the deal was off, with talk that it was likely to be a summer deal for West Ham so patience would be needed.

It was then announced that Lorient had struck a deal with Bournemouth for circa £10m – around £25m less that what West Ham had tabled.

It has since come to light that Black Knight Football Club, the company owned by Bill Foley has stakes in both Bournemouth and Lorient – so the suspicion is that UEFA rules have been broken in this transfer.

West Ham are now understood to be considering raising this issue to the football governing body, over suspicion of 3rd party interests in this deal, which could well see Bournemouth punished.