West Ham boss Sam Allardyce was spotted in Germany this weekend taking a closer look at Nuremberg striker Josip Drmic.

The Swiss international only moved to Germany from FC Zurich last summer, but has caught the eye with a 16-goal haul in the Bundesliga in his debut season.

Given Andy Carroll’s string of injuries and the Hammers' struggle for goals when he is absent, it makes sense that Allardyce would be lining up some targets.

Carlton Cole was re-signed this season a few short months after being released due to severe injury problems in attack.

The 21-year-old hasa reported £4.5 million buy-out clause.

Nuremberg were on the receiving end of a 4-1 humbling courtesy of Wolfsburg, and Allardyce insisted it wouldn’t be fair to judge the young forward on such a game.

Allardyce told the Telegraph: “They got beat quite comfortably so in terms of that particular player, you wouldn’t be able to judge him on that particular game because they got battered.”

Drmic scored his first two international goals in March this year against Croatia, the other country he could have represented through his parents.