West Ham are in discussions over a partnership with Croatian club Hajduk Split.

The Hammers are looking to open up opportunities on and off the pitch and have held talks over taking a five per cent stake in Split where manager Slaven Bilic began his career.

Bilic met delegates of the club following the 3-3 draw with Arsenal earlier this month, and the respective club owners have continued discussions over a partnership similar to that between Chelsea and Vitesse Arnhem.

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic are in discussions over a partnership with Croatian club Hajduk Split

Bilic began his playing and managerial career at Split and West Ham are in talks over a five per cent stake

Hajduk are renowned for developing young talent such as Croatia Under 19 winger Nikola Vlasic, and the partnership could involve West Ham bringing their players to the Premier League.

Hajduk's marketing director Aljosi Basic confirmed further talks with West Ham commercial director Felicity Barnard, saying: 'West Ham would like to enter in the ownership structure of Hajduk, but is not interested in a majority stake.

'Of course, most of the credit for this meeting belongs to Slaven Bilic, who had half an hour after the match with Arsenal and received Hajduk delegates in his office. His charisma encouraged West Ham to offer us co-operation.'

West Ham have also held discussions over a similar deal involving League of Ireland club Shamrock Rovers.

Bilic (number 6) began his playing career at Split and he returned to the club to cut his teeth in management

West Ham co-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold were allegedly abused by Leicester fans on Sunday

Gold said the home supporters 'turned into monsters' when Aaron Cresswell gave the Hammers a 2-1 lead

West Ham co-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold have complained of being targeted for abuse by Leicester supporters in Sunday's draw at the Walkers Stadium.

The 2-2 result came as a blow to Leicester's Barclays Premier League title ambitions, with only a late penalty from Leonardo Ulloa sparing the Foxes from defeat.

Leicester led through Jamie Vardy's goal, but the striker was later sent off and Andy Carroll's penalty drew the teams level before Aaron Cresswell fired West Ham ahead. Carroll's challenge on Jeff Schlupp was punished with the stoppage-time penalty from which Leicester forced the draw.

Sullivan told the Daily Mirror: 'We didn't stay to applaud our own players off as we felt threatened. We've spoken to Leicester and they've told us they would look into it.'

Gold wrote on Twitter: 'Elderly Leicester fans turned into monsters when WHU went 2-1 up then returned to nice old people when LCFC equalised.'