Slaven Bilic has revealed West Ham United were close to signing N’Golo Kanté before the midfielder joined Premier League leaders Leicester City. Kanté has been one of the signings of last summer and he could have been lining up in claret and blue for Sunday’s match between Leicester and West Ham if the Hammers had not signed Pedro Obiang and extended Alex Song’s loan.

But West Ham manager Bilic has warned it will be even harder for Premier League clubs to sign players such as Kanté, who joined Leicester for £5.6million from Caen, for bargain fees thanks to the new television deal.