Is Mark Noble surplus to requirements?

West Ham United midfielder Mark Noble is the subject of interest from fellow Premier League club Fulham, according to reports.

The club's longest-serving player, who made his first team debut eight years ago has featured for five full-time managers plus three temporary managers but could be the shock departure ahead of this Friday's transfer window.

25-year-old Noble, whose current three-and-a-half-year deal expires next summer has today been linked with a move across the capital to Fulham, who are understood to have enquired into the player's availability.

And with Noble yet to renew his current contract - with the club understood to have failed to offer him an extension to his current deal - a move away from West Ham for the highly-popular Canning Town-born midfielder is not an impossibility.

The number 16's position at the club has been severely weakened in the last 12 months following the arrival of fellow central midfielders Kevin Nolan, Mo Diame and, most recently, Alou Diarra.

One potential deal involving the two clubs could see United States international Clint Dempsey - someone keenly admired by Sam Allardyce - move from Craven Cottage to the Boleyn Ground in a player-plus-cash deal.

West Ham have been keeping tabs on the Texas-born forward, who has been at Fulham since 2007, for some considerable time and fans'-favourite Noble could provide the necessary leverage to make a deal work.