‘Don’t need him’: Sinclair doesn’t want £17m man at West Ham, suggests alternative

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Trevor Sinclair believes West Ham have no need for Josh King and should press ahead with a deal for Brentford’s Said Benrahma instead, speaking to Jim White on talkSPORT (14 October, 12.30pm).

With just two days before the transfer window slams shut until January, the Hammers appear to have narrowed their sights to two Championship forwards (Guardian).

But do they take a £30 million punt on a man who has never played top-flight football in England before but looks like a Rolls-Royce among a fleet of hatchbacks in the second tier?

Is Benrahma the new Rihad Mahrez or Adel Taarabt for the modern generation?

King would be a safer bet – especially at £13 million less than the fee Brentford want for their Algerian wizard.

Former West Ham hero Sinclair, however, feels a natural wideman with speed, skill and the ability to produce something out of nothing, like Benrahma, would offer more to David Moyes’ squad than the versatile Bournemouth frontman.

“I like Benrahma, very clever player, got a lot of creativity. For me, I’d rather see Benrahma (join),” Sinclair explains.

“King is a great player and he’ll score goals in the Premier League but when you’ve got (Michail) Antonio playing like he is and (Sebastien) Haller, I don’t think you need that.”

Despite his appreciation of Benrahma’s skills, the one-time England international is still struggling to understand why West Ham would want to pay £30 million for someone else’s winger when they had a perfectly good one before the season began.

The decision to sell homegrown starlet Grady Diangana to West Brom still clearly rankles.

“(Diangana) was one of their own and he’s ready. The game I watched him in against Everton (for West Brom in a 5-2 defeat last month) he was unbelievable.

“If you asked West Ham fans who they’d rather have, I think they’d say Diangana,” Sinclair concludes.