Slaven Bilic confirms West Ham interest in Wilfried Bony and Simone Zaza

Slaven Bilic has confirmed that West Ham are "trying to do a deal with" two players before the end of the transfer window after the injuries suffered by Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew have let him short of options in attack. The Croatian boss admitted that Manchester City's out-of-favour Wilfried Bony and Juventus forward Simone Zaza are two of the players in the club's radar.

Recent reports claimed that the Hammers were considering to get the services of Ivory Coast striker Bony on loan until January to cope with the absence of Ayew, who is expected to be out of action until December. And speaking ahead of the Europe League qualifier second leg against Astra Giurgiu, Bilic confirmed that the former Swansea striker could be a good candidate to replace the club record signing as he is not in Pep Guardiola's plans for the new season.

"[Bony] is a good player," Bilic said. "He is an option because he plays in the position we are looking for. He is a centre-forward. I don't negotiate. I am the manager and I leave negotiations to the chairman and [head of recruitment] Tony Henry."

Meanwhile, Zaza was heavily linked with a move to east London last summer and his father recently revealed that West Ham had made him a new offer to move to the Premier League.

Bilic, again, refused to deny the interest in the Juventus forward while confirmed that they are in negotiations to sign two players before the end of the transfer window.

"We have a couple of players we are trying to do a deal with. We are in a period where we are missing a number of our offensive players. We are short of numbers and short of quality, but after the international break some of them should be back. In terms of signing someone we are not panicking but if something good comes up for us quality wise and financial wise, we are going to act," the boss said.

"You know we were linked with [Zaza] last year and he is a top player. We were in contact with him last year, it didn't happen and will see what happens this time."

Bilic, nevertheless, insisted that West Ham are not going to sign anyone just for the sake of it, as claiming that Caroll, Aaron Creswell, Dimitry Payet and Manuel Lanzini will return to action soon.

"We are not going to sign someone just because we have to act now. The longest injury we have is Ayew and we expect him to be fit by December 1. It is not tomorrow but that time will pass," the manager added. "If you are talking about Carroll, Cresswell, Payet, Lanzini they will all be back very soon.

"We have to be optimistic and cannot moan about the situation because that does not help. We will do something if we can in the next few days, without panicking and that is exactly what we are doing."

Yet, Bilic added that Payet and Lanzini may be ready to play a part in the weekend Premier League trip to Manchester City.

"It is difficult. Maybe one of them will be on the bench, but it is more likely they will be fit and will participate in part of the game on Sunday," he said when asked whether the duo will be available for the Thursday game with Astra Giurgiu.