West Ham: Graham Potter addresses Marcus Rashford transfer link as Hammers suffer fresh injury blow

Graham Potter admitted West Ham will consider bringing a new forward into the club due to an injury pile-up.

Speaking after the Hammers lost 2-1 to Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round in his first match in charge, the Englishman also addressed recent reports linking Marcus Rashford with a move to West Ham.

Striker Niclas Fullkrug went off after 15 minutes against Villa with what looked like a serious hamstring injury, compounding an already difficult situation in attack where Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen are both sidelined.

West Ham are monitoring forward options in the January window with a view to bringing someone in.

“I need to assess the injuries and assess where we are at, have a think in terms of everybody connected.

“We’ll have a think, if we can find anybody that can help us. If those [players] are out, it’s something we’ll have to look at, of course.”

Rashford has made it clear he wants a new challenge away from boyhood club Manchester United, and the likes of Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan and Barcelona are believed to be interested in signing him. Reports also suggest West Ham are keen.

Potter said: “I only comment on players that are West Ham players. All the speculation aren’t always exactly true and you can get yourself in all sorts of knots confirming or denying everything. It’s best to just speak about players that are West Ham players.

“Losing Niclas [to injury] was a blow for us. I would imagine quite a severe hamstring [injury], when you pull up like that. That’s a concern for us. We need to assess it.

“Then Cry [Crysencio Summerville] pulled up, [albeit] nowhere near as bad.”

Potter said of his team’s first match under him: “It was a team performance that was really positive in the first half. There’s no lack of talent at this football club.

“Aston Villa played better in the second half, pushed us back more than we’d like. I thought we carried a threat in the first half, especially. We’d have liked to have carried more of a threat in the second half, and that is what we have to think about.”