Report: West Ham ends Defoe pursuit

West Ham will have to look elsewhere for attacking reinforcements after reportedly giving up on its pursuit of Sunderland forward Jermain Defoe.

The decision to give up on the 34-year-old comes after Sunderland rejected a second bid and decided to retain Defoe beyond the January transfer window, Jason Burt of The Telegraph reports.

Reports suggest that West Ham initially submitted a bid worth £6 million to bring Defoe south to London, but Sunderland is understood to have "immediately" rejected the offer.

It's believed that the club's second bid was marginally higher than the first.

Sunderland's negotiating team explained that the club's fight to avoid relegation was at the root of its decision not to sell the English forward.

The report added that West Ham is not in the running to acquire Celtic striker Moussa Dembele after being linked with a £20-million transfer to sign the 20-year-old.

"We have not bid for this player and he's not a target of ours," West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan told Burt.

Desperate to boost its attack, West Ham has also been linked with moves for Southampton forward Shane Long and Scott Hogan of Brentford.