Hammers make McCarthy move

South Africa’s Benni McCarthy could be on his way from Blackburn to West Ham after his current club confirmed Monday they’d received a written offer from their Premier League rivals.

The 32-year-old striker has grown disillusioned with his lack of first-team starts under Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce and has been agitating for a move to ensure regular football in the run-up to the World Cup finals in his home country in June and July.

Relations between McCarthy and Allardyce were not helped by the forward’s non-appearance at Blackburn’s last two training sessions.

“We are very disappointed with Benni’s non-appearance for training and will deal with it separately should he remain here after the transfer window has closed,” Allardyce said Monday.

“We have said all along that we will listen to offers, but only agree to sell if both the commercial and football reasons satisfy Blackburn Rovers. That situation remains unchanged.”

West Ham have been in the market for a striker following the London club’s takeover by David Sullivan and David Gold, the former owners of Birmingham.

Co-chairman Gold confirmed Monday the Hammers had tried to bring Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy to Upton Park on a loan move.

Last weekend the former Manchester United striker joined Bundesliga team Hamburg from Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Gold insisted West Ham, despite their dire financial position, were not in danger of over-extending themselves in trying to sign van Nistelrooy.

“Let me just state on the record that there is a big difference when you are paying a player 100,000 pounds for four months to paying someone 50,000 pounds (a year) for a four-year contract,” Gold told Sky Sports on Monday.

“I wouldn’t want people to say we were mad to be paying 100,000 pounds, if we were paying that on a four or five-year contract maybe we would be mad but for a super player like that I felt, and David Sullivan felt, it was good business.

“We’ve really gone the extra mile and what we must be pleased about, what I’m pleased about as a West Ham fan, is that we have stopped the sale of two, maybe three top players.

“That is the main prize and the bonus is if we can now bring in one or two players.”

The Hammers are only presently above the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference while Blackburn are five points clear of the bottom three.