West Ham have had an approach for Montpellier striker Gaetan Laborde rejected as David Moyes works to replace Sebastien Haller.
The French club have refused West Ham's initial suggestion, which was made up of a loan with an automatic option to buy being activated in the summer, and have said they will only consider a permanent bid this month. The Hammers remain interested and in talks over another move.
Laborde, 26, has six goals and as many assists in 20 Ligue 1 appearances so far this season and is available for around £16million.
Moyes is keen to add another striker to his squad following the £20m sale of Haller to Ajax which left Michail Antonio as his only senior option up front.
However, while West Ham are working to find a replacement, Moyes would rather risk playing the second half of the season with just Antonio instead of bringing in a striker for the sake of it.
Moyes said: "What I don't want to do, I don't want to spend and waste my money, take a wage up bringing a player in, spend big money and find that actually, I've got it wrong. I'd rather I waited and got someone who might be available in the summer.
"I've got an idea of a model which I want it to look like. I'm having to be off course a little bit at times because I just don't think that the players are always there, but I'm hoping that we're trying to put a little bit of foundations down that will do us well not just for the next six months, which everybody's concerned about because we really want a striker, but the next two or three years."
An offer was also lodged by West Ham for Sevilla's Youssef En-Nesyri, though the 23-year-old is out of their price range, while Reims striker Boulaye Dia is also a target.
Bournemouth's Josh King, who Moyes was interested in last summer, is available but has fallen down the list.
