Assistant manager Neil McDonald has brushed off the recent media reports that West Ham were preparing a move for Liverpool winger Stewart Downing.
A move for the 28-year-old England international was subject to increased speculation yesterday, with many top media outlets claiming Sam Allardyce was ready to enquire about his availability.
But McDonald has lifted the lid on those rumours and has confirmed no such move has been made and that it is all just “paper talk.”
He told talkSPORT last night: “He’s a very good player, of course. I think a player of that calibre and West Ham being involved would be great, but it’s all paper talk at the minute.
“We’ve been back for over a week now and the manager and the chairmen are obviously working behind the scenes to try and strengthen the team so we can improve on what we did last season.
“There’ll be lots of names mentioned. None that will be true, but hopefully a few that will.”
McDonald also confirmed that there are a number of Academy players who are beginning to push for a first-team opportunity, although he remained tight lipped on who was currently impressing the manager.
“We’ve got a young defender coming through and we’ve got high hopes for him, he had a little bit of an injury towards the end of last season,” he revealed.
“We’ve got a winger coming through as well. He got injured towards the end of the season as well and we’ve got high hopes for him. And we’ve still got Danny Potts who has just come back from the Under-20s World Cup.
“So we’ve got plenty of youngsters, which West Ham have a rich history in youngsters coming through, and Sam’s a manager who, if the youngsters are good enough, then he’ll throw them in and give them a go.
“That’s brilliant because the supporters can identify with local kids coming through and playing for their local team, which is great.”
McDonald went on to admit that one priority this season will be a good cup run, which he admits has been put on the back burner over the past couple of seasons.
“If we have a good start in the league then why not have a go in the cups,” McDonald said.
“I think that will be another priority because, in the last coupe of years, we’ve not so much sacrificed that but, it was vitally important that we got promoted and then obviously, last year, it was vitally important we stayed up.
“But we’ve got that stability now and hopefully that will give us the chance to go for a cup as well.”
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