Chelsea are hoping to sign the West Ham striker Andy Carroll this month.

Earlier it was believed that the Blues are eyeing up a loan deal but it seems that West Ham will only consider permanent deals and therefore Chelsea are now lining up a bid for the England international.

According to reports, West Ham are prepared to sell Carroll for a fee of £20 million. The 29-year-old has 18 months left on his £90,000-a-week deal.

The report adds that Carroll is interested in joining the defending champions this month. It will be interesting to see whether the Hammers manage to agree on a fee with their rivals now.

West Ham need to sign a top class striker in January and they might have to offload a few players first. The likes of Carroll, Hernandez, Sakho and Ayew have all been linked with moves away from West Ham.

Carroll’s time at West Ham has been plagued with injuries and therefore losing him will not be too much of a blow for Moyes if he manages to get a replacement in.

David Moyes is apparently keeping tabs on the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Danny Ings amongst others. It will also be interesting to see whether the Hammers try to sign Batshuayi on loan as a part of the Carroll deal.