WEST Ham could be lining up Reading FC boss Jaap Stam to be their next manager.

Reports claim the Premier League outfit see Stam as the perfect choice to replace Slaven Bilic in the summer.

Bilic's position looks to be under threat after a poor run results and talks over a new contract have been put off until the season has finished.

Further doubts were cast over the Croat's future when Hammers co-chairman David Sullivan apologised to fans after a 3-2 defeat to Leicester and also voiced his frustration on the club's website after losing to Bournemouth at home.

Stam is now rumoured to be at the top of Hammers' wish list should they part company with Bilic.

Reading Chronicle:

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic.

Stam has only one more year to run on his contract at Madejski Stadium and his own frustrations with the club's ongoing takeover by a Chinese consortium have been well documented.

He said recently: “You don’t know what new owners want to do when they come into a club.

“Maybe they want a different manager. You just don’t know what will happen.

“We’ll wait and see if it goes through and what they want to do with the technical staff and whether they want to improve the squad.”

It now appears the 44-year-old Dutchman is happy to put off talks over a new contract with the Royals to concentrate on his team's promotion push in the Championship.

He also added: “I still have another season to go after this one. I don’t think about my contract, I’m just enjoying working with the team and with the club.

“Hopefully we will continue doing well and maybe at the end of the season we can talk about it.”

But Stam's eye-catching success in his first full-time managerial role has not gone unnoticed in the top flight after transforming a team that finished 17th in the Championship last season into one likely to end up in the play-offs.

Royals are fifth in the table with a six-point lead over Fulham in seventh, though the picture could change this weekend when Royals host fourth-placed Leeds United on Saturday (5.30pm ko, live Sky Sports).