It is understood that Stoke City have enquired about Scott Parker, who is valued no lower than £8m by West Ham United, with any move for the 30-year-old likely to free up the Hammers to explore signing Joey Barton on a free transfer from Newcastle United.
Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal all retain an interest in Parker. But the interest from Aston Villa – who offered £7m earlier this summer – and from Chelsea – who also considered a bid, or a loan deal for Parker – appears to have cooled, for the moment at least.
Stoke nearly signed the West Ham striker Carlton Cole earlier in the summer only for the player to decide against the move, and Parker may also be reluctant to move to the Potteries.
West Ham will not accept any less than £8m for Parker, who has a year remaining on his contract at Upton Park, due to the £40m hole in their finances relegation has caused. By the end of August West Ham will have injected around £18m for cash flow and wages purposes as the club,
If Parker were to depart, Barton would cost West Ham nothing after the controversial midfielder was told he can leave for free due to his dispute with the hierarchy on Tyneside. This follows a bust-up with management and series of tweets in which he has criticized the board.
Were he to join West Ham, he would be reunited with his former Newcastle team-mate Kevin Nolan and the manager, Sam Allardyce, who signed Barton from Manchester City.
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