Maxwel Cornet has ended his loan at Southampton, West Ham have confirmed, with the attacker joining Italian club Genoa on loan until the end of the 2024/25 season.

Ivory Coast international Cornet only played four times for Southampton and has now ended his loan spell at St Mary’s by mutual consent, the club confirmed on Monday. Cornet signed for the Hammers’ Premier League rivals in the summer transfer window, but has not featured for the Saints since September.

The 28-year-old will now head to Serie A in search of regular minutes under former Crystal Palace boss and ex-Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira. Cornet signed for West Ham from Burnley in August 2022 and scored one goal in 37 appearances across two seasons.

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The deal was announced after it emerged that Aston Villa had rejected a bid from West Ham for forward Jhon Duran. The Hammers first registered an interest in Duran last summer but failed to pursue initial advances for the Colombian striker and he signed a new deal with Villa until 2030 in October.

However, the Hammers have stepped up their efforts to bring the 12-goal forward to London and had a bid reported to be in the region of £57million turned down by Villa on Monday. Graham Potter is keen to bring in a striker this window and Duran is one of a number of targets being considered.

Villa are in Champions League action on Tuesday against Monaco and leading scorer Duran is set to be involved. But with 20 of his 27 appearances this season having come as a substitute, boss Unai Emery acknowledged it was a challenge for him to find a way to play the highly-rated attacker with Ollie Watkins.

Asked about playing Watkins and Duran together, Emery told reporters in Monaco: “Firstly, it’s my challenge. It’s my challenge to try to get the best individually and then collectively.

“Collectively means maybe playing together, but we have to work tactically because to play with two strikers, two proper strikers, is not the same task as playing together, because they have to try to help the team as well offensively and defensively. I think I can find a solution to play at the beginning and start them together, but they have to understand the role.”