English Championship club 'assess' transfer move for West Ham United star as former Hearts ace in demand
The West Ham United man is formerly of Hearts and is in demand this January.
A former Hearts star could be offered a way out of West Ham United as an English Championship side ponder a January move.
Andy Irving has been on the fringes at Premier League level this season as the Hammers fight for survival, and is into the last six months of his deal at West Ham United, following a move from Austria Klagenfurt. He has played just seven top flight minutes since late October and to boost his World Cup chances with Scotland, will need more in a competitive area of Steve Clarke’s team to give himself the best possible chance of selection.
Irving started his career at Hearts before moves to Germany and Austria preceded his West Ham United stint, and according to the Pink Un, ‘Norwich City have run the rule over West Ham midfielder Andy Irving as they assess late transfer window market moves.’ He is claimed to fit the profile that former Rangers boss and current Canaries gaffer Philippe Clement is after.
Who is interested in signing Andy Irving?
Clubs in the Championship and abroad are also interested in the midfielder, alongside Norwich City. Irving featured 61 times for Hearts with five goals and 13 assists in his time in maroon. Speaking on Norwich City’s transfer requirements this month, Clement said: “It's difficult. That's a little bit the story of the casino. You need some luck in things, and you can wait also and wait and then you're empty-handed.
“So this is always a really, really tricky window for everybody, for every manager, for every club. If you never lived the life you understand it less, like maybe for fans. But it's a really complicated window to get players in who are a direct fit to play, sometimes you need to make choices, to choose somebody more for long term and to get them in because he was playing less in his old team, but because of that, is now available on the market, for example.
“Those are also choices that you need to make, or you take. Maybe somebody who is less talented than the other one, but you can step in directly and do something directly now. So I hope we have a few choices.
Norwich City transfer business assessed
"That's already the challenge the recruitment team are working really hard on that, and we will see what happens now in this next two, three weeks. But what's really important is that everybody's working really hard. So I've been here many hours in the club every day, but the recruitment team even more so.
“I'm happy that there's a lot of open communication in the club around every file that we have with players, and the talks are really open and honest. It's not about the quantity, it's about the quality that we need to strengthen the squad. It's an exciting time.
"We have a really, really young squad, by far the youngest in the Championship. So there's a lot of room for development there, and we need a few added players.”