West Ham remain hopeful of signing Alphonse Areola from Paris St Germain despite late interest from Newcastle United.
Talks had been ongoing over a £7.6m deal to make the goalkeeper's loan move permanent but Newcastle stepped in to express an interest in signing the 29-year-old and that is understood to have stalled discussions though West Ham believe he will prefer to stay in London.
Eager to find a long-term replacement for 37-year-old goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, the Hammers have been speaking with Areola's agents this week in a bid to sign him permanently.
According to Fabrizio Romano, West Ham are 'expected to trigger' the buy option clause set out in Areola's contract and 'prepared to pay' the fee to keep him in London.
Although the French goalkeeper only managed one Premier League appearance during his time away from PSG, he performed impressively in other competitions, making 11 appearances for West Ham in the Europa League.
The PSG academy graduate, who has been on loan away from the French capital for the last six seasons, still has one year left on his current deal.
Therefore, faced with the prospect of Areola exiting on a free next summer, PSG will likely cash in on the Frenchman this summer while they can.
During his time out on loan since 2015, Areola has earned caps for Fulham, Villareal and even Real Madrid.
He also won the 2018 World Cup with France as their third goalkeeper, despite not seeing any action on the pitch.
Fabianski has been David Moyes' first-choice goalkeeper since 2018 following his arrival from Swansea and will likely keep his place between the sticks in the near future.
However, as West Ham secured European football for a second successive campaign - by way of the Europa Conference League - Areola will still have ample opportunity to show his worth even as a back-up.
The 29-year-old played a pivotal role in West Ham's journey to the Europa League semi-finals, which they ultimately lost 1-0 to Eintracht Frankfurt.