West Ham boss Sam Allardyce is hopeful of keeping Mohamed Diame at Upton Park beyond the January transfer window, but admits the situation could quickly change.
Diame's performances for the Hammers this season have attracted interest from other clubs, most notably Arsenal, and there is uncertainty over whether he will remain at the club beyond Thursday evening because of a £3.5 million release clause in his contract.
"My understanding is that it is total confusion. I am as confused as anyone by what is happening," Allardyce said. "I am sat there listening to what is going on (in the media), but deep down inside behind the scenes I speak to the chairman and where we are at the moment we are relatively comfortable regarding Mo Diame.
"However, whatever he [Diame] says to me today might change in an hour's time - if Manchester United ring up in one hour's time, he's not going to want to stay is he? It can change between now and 11 O'clock Thursday night. In the flick of a text, or an email, or a phone call.
"There is certain situations where yes, we might lose the player, I hope we don't. But if the situation develops accordingly there is going to be the chance we lose him. We are trying to keep him."
West Ham captain Kevin Nolan is also concerned about the future of Diame, and claims he thought the Senegal international had left without saying goodbye when he arrived late to a 7am team meeting following the 5-1 defeat to Arsenal.
“Mo Diame was a bit late,” he said. “When he arrived we all gave him stick. We said we thought he had left us without saying goodbye. There is a lot of speculation in the media about Mo.
“To be fair to him, he took all the banter really well. We were all upset and disappointed with the result at the Emirates and I apologise to our fans. We are now focusing on the match at Fulham.”
Meanwhile, West Ham’s chances of signing Stephen Warnock from Aston Villa look to be over, with the defender accepting an offer to join Championship side Leeds United.
"Stephen we thought was a goer yesterday, but we had another club in the Championship make him a longer-term offer, which he has accepted," Allardyce said. "Ours was more a short-term offer with a view to a further and longer deal, but at the end of the day he chose the more secure one.
"That was a lot of hard work which went to waste yet again. You constantly waste your time because 99% of the time you don't get what you want. We have been looking for a defender since late December and it has taken until this week to get Emanuel Pogatetz in."
