West Ham United have sent a begging letter to the Premier League’s top clubs ahead of the January transfer window as part of their desperate bid to boost their squad.

The Hammers have made specific enquiries over Michy Batshuayi, Daniel Sturridge, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial as they try to land a striker on loan, but have also made a more general plea to the leading clubs.

West Ham have sent letters out to Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United asking whether they have any strikers, full-backs or central defenders they would be prepared to loan out in the January window.

Other than Batshuayi, Sturridge, Rashford and Martial, West Ham are interested in the likes of Chris Smalling, Branislav Ivanovic, Mamadou Sakho, Mathieu Debuchy and Carl Jenkinson, who has already spent two previous spells on loan with the Hammers.

West Ham’s enquiries for the likes of Rashford, Martial and Smalling are more in hope than expectation, but the club feel it is worth asking the question before moving on to other, more realistic, targets.