West Ham’s pursuit of exciting striker Kaio Jorge has burst back into life but one major sticking point needs to be resolved, a transfer insider has claimed.

It is being widely reported that West Ham are specifically targeting two markets in their search for a new striker.

Niclas Fullkrug has departed for AC Milan, leaving ageing, injury-prone Callum Wilson as Nuno Espirito Santo’s only senior striker option.

Not that flop Fullkrug was offering much to the Hammers anyway, scoring just three goals in 18 months since arriving in east London in a £27m move from Dortmund.

West Ham are looking at domestic forwards including several from the Championship and the likes of Wolves’ Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Exciting West Ham deal for Kaio Jorge back on

The Hammers are also looking at Brazilian forwards, including Cruzeiro’s Kaio Jorge.

West Ham have been heavily linked with exciting Brazilian forward Jorge ever since Nuno arrived at the London Stadium.

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Those talks hit a dead end this week, though, as reports from Brazil claimed West Ham’s lowball Jorge bid was rejected out of hand.

The club’s loan offer with a £20m obligation if West Ham survived in the Premier League was laughed out of the room according to the report.

It was the latest in a series of blows to the club’s striker hunt after Coventry trolled the Hammers by demanding £200m for Haji Wright while West Ham admitted Wolves want too much for Jorgen Strand Larsen.

The January transfer window opens in one week and the Hammers do not have time to waste.

The club is heading into its most winnable run of fixtures of the entire season and West Ham’s Premier League survival literally hinges on the next six weeks.

So the pressure is on to bring in a new forward who can make a real difference.

Now it seems Nuno is getting a welcome Christmas present.

Nuno gets Christmas present but there’s one sticking point

Because an exciting West Ham deal for Jorge is back on but there’s one big sticking point.

Talks are believed to be moving again after the Hammers saw their initial offer snubbed, raising hopes that a deal can still be done.

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However, there remains one major sticking point to overcome.

Jorge has 26 goals and nine assists for Cruzeiro in 46 appearances this year and is highly thought of in the Brazilian national team setup ahead of the World Cup in the summer.

Graeme Bailey has confirmed West Ham have reignited talks with intermediaries and says ‘all involved are looking to put a deal together’ with Cruzeiro not asking the world at a reasonable £26m.

teamTALK Football correspondent Bailey says a deal is not close yet, though, because one key obstacle remains regarding how the deal is triggered to become permanent.

As Hammers News reported, West Ham want a loan with an obligation to make it permanent if they stay up.

Now it is claimed West Ham want a separate clause included which is putting Cruzeiro off – that Jorge must feature in a certain amount of games and score a certain number of goals during his loan to trigger the obligation.

Cruzeiro just want a straightforward deal where West Ham buy Jorge if they stay up.

Brazilian club’s perfectly reasonable Jorge demand to West Ham

It is not an unreasonable expectation for the top scorer in Brazil so West Ham need to get serious.

Especially with the transfer window looming and Nuno in desperate need of firepower – and fast.

How the Hammers navigate this stumbling block will show how truly determined they are to stay in the Premier League.

With Niclas Fullkrug gone, there is even an argument to say Nuno needs to be given two new strikers not just one as West Ham already needed a new forward before shipping the German flop out.