West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has admitted that he is a big fan of Scott Hogan, but fell short of confirming whether his side had made a bid for the Brentford striker.

The Hammers are said to have had an offer of £10m rejected for the 24-year-old, who is reportedly valued closer to the £15m mark by his current club.

Hogan has scored 14 goals in 26 appearances for Brentford this term, building on an impressive finish to last season when netting seven in four upon his return from injury, leading to rumoured interest from a number of teams in the Championship and Premier League.

Bilic, also in the hunt for Sunderland ace Jermain Defoe - who left United under a cloud in 2004 - would not get drawn into the ongoing speculation but did hint that negotiations are underway.

"We are not going to discuss the players that are not ours at the moment," he told reporters. "The chairman is trying really hard to get some players, in a position that we need. But I am not going to talk about names here in public.

"Scott is a good player. I watched him a few times. He is, again, scoring goals. He is very sharp, quick. A good finisher - doing it in the Championship, young and a good prospect."

Bilic also confirmed that on-loan Juventus forward Simone Zaza would not play again for the club, with Valencia close to sealing a deal for the Italian.