West Ham manager Slaven Bilic says he is interested in signing Manchester City forward Wilfried Bony, but will not "beg" anyone to join the club.
Strikers Andy Carroll and record signing Andre Ayew are both injured, while the Croatian admits he was close to signing AC Milan's Carlos Bacca.
The Colombian opted to stay in Italy, with Bilic unwilling to chase the forward because he says there are other targets "calling me every day".
Bilic added the deal became "a saga".
"I was the one who called it off three weeks ago in Austria," he added.