West Ham press pause on Danny Ings to Wolves loan deal after injury setbacks

Danny Ings’s potential loan move to Wolves is on hold as West Ham wait to discover the extent of Michail Antonio’s injury setback.

Ings is a target for the Midlands club as he seeks regular first-team football, having slipped way down the pecking order in east London.

The 31-year-old has started just once in the Premier League all season and West Ham had been keen to move him on this month in order to get at least part of his hefty £125,000-a-week salary off their wage bill.

However, Antonio suffered an injury in training late last week, just as he was closing in on a return from the knee problem that has had him sidelined since mid-November. The club are carrying out further assessments but there are fears he faces at least another month out.

David Moyes is down to the bare bones in attack, with Mohammed Kudus away at the Africa Cup of Nations and both Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen picking up injuries in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Bristol City, though that pair are yet to be assessed.

Moyes sent on teenage striker Divin Mubama ahead of Ings when Paqueta limped off early in the third round FA Cup tie, but is wary of leaving himself short up front.

Wolves have struggled for goals over the past 18 months and are currently without top scorer Hwang Hee-chan, who is representing South Korea at the Asian Cup.

Wolves. boss Gary O’Neil has identified Ings as a potential short-term solution, just as Moyes did 12 months ago, when the England international was signed from Aston Villa in the hope that he could fire West Ham clear of a relegation scrap.

Ings found the net twice in a crucial win over Nottingham Forest soon after his arrival, but has scored just once since, in the first leg of the Europa Conference League quarter-final against Gent back in April.