West Ham have been forced to abandon their bid for Miralem Sulejmani after he failed to secure a work permit.
Hammers forced to abandon deal
West Ham United have been forced to abandon their bid for Ajax's Miralem Sulejmani after he failed to secure a work permit, skysports.com understands.
The Hammers had agreed a deal with the Dutch giants to sign Sulejmani, who is Ajax's record signing after they paid Heerenveen more than £13million for his services just two years ago.
However, Sulejmani - a Serbian international - has just eight caps to his name and they have been spread over two years, meaning he did not automatically qualify for a work permit under Premier League criteria.
West Ham appealed the decision, but an independent football panel ruled against Avram Grant's side, who had been hoping to include Sulejmani in their squad ahead of their opening game at Aston Villa this weekend.
Now Grant will turn elsewhere with deals in the pipeline for Manchester City's Felipe Caicedo and former Middlesbrough forward Jeremie Aliadiere.
