Alassane Plea interesting West Ham and Newcastle

West Ham and Newcastle United are both in the race to sign Nice striker Alassane Plea. The forward has returned 19 goals in 45 games so far this campaign and has even been preferred to striker Balotelli in recent weeks.

It is understood that Newcastle are leading the race to sign Plea, but are unwilling to match the reported 20 million euro transfer fee required for the player.

The player has a £43 million release clause in his contract and neither the Hammers or Toon Army are ready to pay that much money for the player.

The 25-year-old has two years remaining on his deal with Nice and has played over 100 times for the Ligue 1 club and is believed to be attracting interest at home, even from his former club Lyon; alongside Monaco and Paris St Germain. 

Plea has caught the eye in the past months for Nice, and Mario Balotelli has at times struck up an impressive forward partnership with Italian striker Mario Balotelli.