Darren Fletcher looks set to sign for West Ham after Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal confirmed the midfielder is in London for talks with the club.

Fletcher was named United vice-captain at the start of the season, but has been unable to break into Van Gaal's first team and now looks set to move to the London side.

"Darren Fletcher is now in West Ham, I believe," Van Gaal told a press conference this afternoon.

"So we have to wait and see."

Van Gaal believes he will be losing a key player in Fletcher, who is understood to be having a medical at the east London club.

Fletcher made his United debut in 2003 and has played 342 times for the club despite missing almost two years due to the debilitating illness ulcerative colitis.

Van Gaal spoke warmly of Fletcher, who he named as a deputy - along with Michael Carrick - to skipper Wayne Rooney at the start of the season.

"He is my third captain. He is an important guy in the dressing room. I like him as a human being and as a player. We shall miss him," Van Gaal said.

"But he has not played so many times. I think always that is the main goal of a player. We have talked about that. He prefers to play. Therefore we have helped him to go away.

"He is a very experienced player. But in that role we have another experienced player. That is the problem here."