Sunderland manager David Moyes says he would never have agreed to the clause in Jermain Defoe’s contract that allows the striker to leave for free at the end of the season.
Both West Ham and Crystal Palace are targeting Defoe, whose contract includes a relegation release clause that allows him to depart the Stadium of Light for free.
Moyes said: "We hope Jermain stays. Everybody at the club wants him to stay, all the supporters want him to stay, but it has to be Jermain's decision what he does.
"Yes, there's a clause in the contract, which is hard to take, I think. I would hope that in my time, if I had been the manager, I wouldn't have allowed a clause like that to be in there.
"But it is, and obviously we have to honour the contract."
Sam Allardyce, Defoe’s former manager at Sunderland and now boss of Crystal Palace, has spoken of his eagerness to bring the 34-year-old striker to Selhurst Park.
Standard Sport understands West Ham remain keen on Defoe, for whom they bid £6million in the summer, but that interest has cooled somewhat in the second half of the season.
Defoe, also a target for Bournemouth, has scored just one of his 15 league goals since February 5 and that drop off in form has encouraged West Ham to explore other targets, including Michy Batshuayi.
However the England international’s availability on a free means that Defoe, who began his career at Upton Park in 1999, remains firmly on West Ham’s radar.
