West Ham confirm bid following Tevez transfer coup

LONDON, Sep 1 (Reuters) West Ham United said today they had a received a takeover bid, a day after they surprised the transfer market by snatching up Argentine World Cup duo Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

The West Ham board added, however, in a statement on the stock exchange that the bid was unrelated to yesterday's player coup and at a very early stage of discussion.

''The Board confirms that it has had exploratory discussions in relation to a possible bid but these discussions are at a very early stage and there can be no certainty that an offer for West Ham will be forthcoming,'' it said.

''The Board also confirms that there is no contractual link between the signing of the players and the bid discussions,'' it added.

Tevez and Mascherano were signed from Brazilian club Corinthians, whose owners, the investment group MSI, were in negotiations to buy West Ham last year although no deal went through.

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