West Ham United have reportedly identified Barcelona defender Jordi Alba as a potential transfer target.

Having secured European football for a second successive campaign, David Moyes was given the funds to make eight major additions during the summer.

However, despite breezing through to the last 16 of the Europa Conference League, the Hammers have endured a miserable period in the Premier League.

West Ham have lost nine of their 15 matches in the top flight, scoring just 12 goals and accumulating only 14 points to leave the club in 16th position in the standings.

As it stands, the East Londoners are said to be ready to stand by Moyes after two finishes in the top seven of England's top flight.

If reports are to be believed, that will seemingly resulted in West Ham committing to signing more players at the midway point of the campaign.

According to Fichajes, West Ham are giving consideration to moving for Alba, who may be allowed to leave Camp Nou.

The 33-year-old has been with Barcelona since 2012, making a total of 441 appearances in all competitions, but the Catalan giants are open to reducing their outgoings in January.

Alba has started seven of Barcelona's 14 matches in La Liga, with a further three outings coming from the substitutes' bench.

The Spain international has also made two starts in the Champions League, but boss Xavi is not short of alternatives on the left-hand side of defence.

Youngster Alejandro Balde is now regarded as one of Barcelona's first-choice full-backs, while Marcos Alonso would prefer to feature in that area of the pitch despite his recent outings in the middle.

Alba will have 18 months remaining on his contract in January, and club officials may welcome the opportunity to get the veteran's wages off their books.

West Ham already have Aaron Cresswell, Emerson Palmieri, Ben Johnson and Maxwel Cornet who can feature at full-back or wing-back. body check tags ::