Exclusive: West Ham line up transfer missions for Norway international ahead of January | OneFootball

West Ham are keeping close tabs on Norwegian left-back Birger Meling ahead of the January window, Football Insider can reveal.

The Hammers are assessing defensive options ahead of next year and Meling, 24, is firmly on their radar.

A West Ham source has told Football Insider that the club are compiling a dossier on him and scouts are lining up regular transfer missions to see him in action for Rosenborg.

He is a target for the winter window as well as next summer.

The fourth-placed Norwegian club are vulnerable to losing Meling as his contract expires in December of next year.

Celtic were among those assessing the left-sided defender in the summer but they subsequently signed Greg Taylor from Kilmarnock as well as Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo.

West Ham’s current left-backs are Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku, with these two sharing the position this season.

Cresswell, 29, has started seven of the club’s 13 matches, while Masuaku, 25, has started the other six.

Cresswell, who signed a new four-year contract last month, was in the starting XI for Saturday’s surprise 3-2 home defeat to Newcastle United.

Meling has an impressive pedigree after graduating into the senior Norway side, where he has accumulated 10 caps.

He has made 39 appearances for for Rosenborg this year, scoring two goals and supplying four assists from his left-back slot.

The left-back was previously on the books of Middlesbrough, where he played only for their Under-23s and did not make a senior appearance before returning back to his homeland.

In other West Ham news, it can be exclusively REVEALED that the club are plotting a January player exchange with West Brom.