West Ham’s long search for a striker has led them to make a new approach for Wissam Ben Yedder but they face competition from Leicester City for the Toulouse forward, with a year-long loan move for Argentinian striker Jonathan Calleri also close to completion.

Having failed with bids for Michy Batshuayi, Alexandre Lacazette and Christian Benteke, West Ham had hoped to convince the Colombia striker Carlos Bacca to sign after having a £26m bid accepted by Milan. Negotiations with the 29-year-old’s representatives have failed to reach a breakthrough and Bacca appeared to rule out a transfer to West Ham over the weekend. He said he wants to play in the Champions League and Atlético Madrid, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are among other clubs interested.

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West Ham sounded out Ben Yedder’s representative Meïssa N’Diaye once again after they made an approach in January, with the 25-year-old former France Under-21 player thought to be available for €10m (£8.3m) because he has only one year left on his contract with Toulouse. Leicester have also registered their interest in a player who scored 17 goals in Ligue 1 last season despite his club only just avoiding relegation. Claudio Ranieri is keen to strengthen his forward options. N’Diaye refused to comment when contacted by the Guardian on Monday.

Calleri, a 22-year-old who made his name at Boca Juniors before signing for the Uruguayan side Deportivo Maldonado in January, has spent the past six months on loan at the Brazilian club São Paulo but is now set to move to West Ham despite interest from Sevilla. Reports in Brazil on Monday stated that Calleri had sought the advice of the former West Ham striker Carlos Tevez before deciding to commit his future.

Ben Yedder came to close to joining Sevilla in June before their new coach Jorge Sampaoli decided against completing the deal but they retain an interest and he is also wanted by Roma and Lyon. Crystal Palace have also scouted him in the past.

The Toulouse coach, Pascal Dupraz, appeared to invite any suitors to make their interest known, with the club hoping to complete a deal in the next week. “I am astonished French clubs, including the largest, are not interested in him. In France, it is rare for a player to be able to do what he does in the area,” he told the French radio station RMC.

Born in Sarcelles, a suburb of Paris where Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez also grew up, Ben Yedder moved to Toulouse from the amateur side UJA Alfortville in 2010 and has scored 63 goals in 153 appearances.

Any move for Ben Yedder could allow West Ham to sell Enner Valencia, with Lazio and Swansea linked to the Ecuador striker. Diafra Sakho is also wanted by Sunderland, although reports over the weekend claimed the Senegal striker had refused to travel to the team’s pre-season training camp in Austria having submitted a transfer request earlier this month.