Two of West Ham's proposed January transfer window deals were in jeopardy today.
Midfielder Steve Sidwell's planned move from Aston Villa looked on the verge of collapse as the Hammers re-assessed their transfer priorities, while the club's £6million offer for Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba has been rejected by the German club.
West Ham are still pursuing other options, though, with Tottenham's Robbie Keane and Manchester City left-back Wayne Bridge both on their radar.
At the weekend it appeared that Sidwell would be West Ham's first January signing after he had passed a medical. The move looked less likely to go through today, however, as the Upton Park club looked at alternatives.
Avram Grant's team, who are at Newcastle tonight, dropped back into the bottom three following last night's results.
The manager's priority remains a top-class striker and a left-back and the Sidwell deal could be a casualty should the money set aside for the midfielder be better utilised in other areas.
The Upton Park club continue to pursue Ba despite having their £6m offer turned down by Bundesliga club Hoffenheim. The 25-year-old began his career at Watford but then played for two French clubs before moving to Hoffenheim in 2007.
Ba has since scored 37 goals in 97 matches for the German club and has netted twice in nine games for Senegal.
On the subject of Sidwell, Grant said: "There is no news on him. I like him as a player — I worked with him at Chelsea and he never let me down, he's a good person."
West Ham co-chairman David Gold has confirmed that the club are exploring a variety of options but the number of new additions may also depend on who leaves.
Valon Behrami, a target for Roma and former club Lazio, is keen to return to Italy but no deal has yet been done and the Swiss has travelled to the North-east with the rest of the squad for tonight's match.
There is also uncertainty over the West Ham future of defender Tal Ben Haim, whose loan spell from Portsmouth expires this week.
