West Ham lead transfer race for Chelsea outcast Batshuayi

West Ham are the favourites to sign Chelsea outcast Michy Batshuayi.

The Belgian striker could be set to move across London after becoming surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge.

With the arrival of RB Leipzig ace Timo Werner imminent, Batshuayi is likely to be offloaded.

The Sunday Express reported that the Blues had slapped a £40million price tag on their forward flop with the Hammers at the head of the queue.

The 26-year-old joined Chelsea for £33m from Marseille in 2016 and has a deal until 2021 but has struggled for game time in West London.

He has bagged 25 goals in 77 appearances either side of loan spells at Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Crystal Palace.

Tammy Abraham has cemented himself as Chelsea’s No9 underboss Frank Lampard this season.

And Lampard set out his stall by signing Frenchman Olivier Giroud to a new one-year extension.

The World Cup winner pointed to divine intervention when explaining his decision to stay at Chelsea and fight for a place.

That deal put the writing on the wall for Batshuayi’s stop-start Chelsea career as he dropped further down the pecking order.

read also:Chelsea demand huge £45m for misfit Batshuayi

West Ham were originally favourites to snap up the player while he was still in Ligue 1 but look like they could now finally land their man.

Palace are thought to be interested but are unwilling to stump up the required amount with Newcastle also keeping tabs on the situation ahead of their big-money takeover.