West Ham interested in signing Manchester United defender

West Ham will move to sign Manchester United captain Antonio Valencia if Pablo Zabaleta retires at the end of the season, claims The Sun.

Zabaleta’s current deal is due to expire at the end of the season and the former Manchester City right-back is yet to decide whether he wants to prolong his playing career.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side want the 34-year-old to stay but have lined up a summer move for Valencia if the Argentine calls time on his career.

Valencia is also out of contract at the end of the season and is unlikely to be given a new deal by United after dropping completely out of favour this season.

The 33-year-old has been an ever-present in the United team in the last few years but has only made five Premier League appearances this season.

United are working on new deals for a number of high profile players out of contract in the summer but Valencia is not one of them.

The Ecuador international has only featured in one of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s 12 matches in charge of United and has now dropped down to third in the pecking order for places at right-back.

Since the start of last season, United have a significantly better win ratio in the Premier League when Valencia has started (69.4%) compared to when he has not featured from the of (53.6%).