West Ham United monitoring Manchester United centre-back

West Ham United are reportedly monitoring the transfer activity at Manchester United as they seek to pursue the services of defender Chris Smalling.

The Red Devils are currently weighing up a move for Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld and a preliminary agreement with Tottenham may witness them offload one of their existing centre-backs.

As such, Metro reports that the Hammers are keeping tabs on the position of Chris Smalling, who may be the player sacrificed at the heart of the club's defence.

New Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini has recently outlined his ambition to sign five players during the summer and most of those recruits are expected to bolster the backline.

Aside from Smalling, Swansea City duo Alfie Mawson and Lukasz Fabianski have been touted as possible targets whilst they may pursue also an attacker with Manuel Lanzini sidelined with a long-term injury.

Smalling started the previous campaign as the back-up centre-back in the United ranks but injuries to Phil Jones and Eric Bailly enabled him to claim a regular position for most of the season.