West Ham United neglected to improve their central defensive options over the summer and should turn to Swansea City in January.
The Hammers signed Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez to improve their first team over the summer.
The deals were welcomed as decent business by the club’s fans but one area they felt was neglected was central defence.
Bilic is not short on numbers at centre half but it could be argued he is short on athleticism and pace if his squad was stretched.
Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna are undoubtedly the first choice pairing in a two and are backed up by the ageing Jose Fonte or James Collins in a three.
Promising young defenders Reece Burke and Reece Oxford were shipped out on season long loans to Bolton and Bourissia Monchengladbach respectively.
An injury to Collins has threatened to expose Bilic’s lack of options.
Meanwhile at the other end of the pitch the Croatian has a real job keeping his players happy with as many as three players for each of the main attacking positions.
One of those is £20million flop Andre Ayew who has been consigned to the bench for much of his West Ham career.
So should the Hammers cut their losses on the Ghana captain and offer him back to old club Swansea as a carrot to try and secure the signature of superb central defender Alfie Mawson?
Mawson has been a revelation for the Swans over the last year and has even showed a keen eye for goal.
The former Brentford and Barnsley star is an imposing figure, a young England international and a potential future skipper.
After playing hard ball to get their desired £45million for Gylfi Sigurdsson over the summer Swansea proved they are no pushovers in the transfer market.
But the incentive of bringing back one of their best goalscorers in recent years could prove too tempting to ignore, particularly if they also factor in some money on top from the Hammers.
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