West Ham United co-chairman David Sullivan has sought to clarify comments he made about QPR striker Charlie Austin, but has stuck by his view that signing the England international would be a risk his side cannot afford to take.

Sullivan suggested that Austin may not have any ligament in his knee and ruled out signing the striker, saying that given his medical history he represented a "gamble".




Austin, who scored 18 goals in an impressive season for QPR last term, took exception to Sullivan's comments and blasted back at the West Ham man in a statement, dubbing the comments "inaccurate, misleading and uninformed innuendo".

Now Sullivan has responded, offering an olive branch to Austin, but still insisting the striker would be a risky signing for the Hammers and is therefore not on their radar.
 

 

He said in a statement released via Twitter: "I'm sorry that Mr Austin has taken my comments out of context. He is a player I greatly admire.

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"However, he failed a medical at Hull two years ago.

"Clearly an old injury left a severe doubt with the Hull medical team about the longevity of his career.

"I fully accept he is playing very well and the old injury is not impacting upon him at this moment in time.

"Any club who wanted to buy him would re-medical him and take the advice of their medical team. Indeed the opinions of different medical experts might even vary.

"I was simply saying at West Ham United we've been very unlucky with injuries to strikers, going right back to Dean Ashton and the fact 3 of our main 4 strikers are injured at this moment in time.

"So for us, with our limited budget, our bad luck over injured strikers and the fact he failed a medical at Hull would be a risk we couldn't take.

"However, I'm sure many other clubs would take a different view and I hope he plays on until he's 37 or 38 as he's clearly a super professional and a great player. David Sullivan."

Austin has also been linked with Newcastle United and Leicester City and is expected to be sold by QPR before the transfer window closes