West Ham line up Porto midfielder Danilo Pereira as William Carvalho deal stalls

West Ham United look set to turn their attention to Porto midfielder Danilo Pereira as negotiations to secure William Carvalho appear to have stalled.

The Hammers, who suffered a thumping 4-0 defeat against Manchester United in the opening game of their Premier League campaign, have long made the Portugal international their main target and were in pole-position to land the 25-year-old.

Last week, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic said Carvalho was a "good player" before admitting that "a lot of clubs have interest in him", as he stopped short of confirming the club had reached a verbal agreement with the Sporting Lisbon midfielder.

"Since he came on, not the market, but the radar and that's all that I can say," Bilic explained.

"Top players are hard to get but we are all looking to get them. It would be a bit rich, even today, for that money."

However, increased demands from Sporting have slowed down the negotiations. West Ham are reportedly ready to pay approximately £31m (€34.1m, $40.1m) for the midfielder, but Sporting Lisbon are understood to want closer to €40m.

While West Ham remain keen on Carvalho, who has been linked with Manchester United in the past, Bilic could soon look elsewhere.

According to the Mirror, Pereira, who like Carvalho was part of the Portugal side that won Euro 2016, has emerged as a possible alternative for the Hammers, should they fail in their quest to land his compatriot.

Born in Guinea-Bissau, the 6ft 2in defensive midfielder can also operate as central midfielder and as centre-back and has made 88 appearances for Porto in all competitions since joining the Portuguese giants in the summer of 2015.

In January this year, the 25-year-old, who was on Arsenal's radar last summer, signed a new deal with Porto, which will keep him at the Estádio do Dragão until the summer of 2022.

West Ham's four summer signings, Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez, all made their debut on Sunday (13 August) but could not prevent West Ham slumping to their 11th opening day defeat in Premier League history.