West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce says signing permanently Liverpool striker Andy Carroll is a "main priority".

Allardyce remains determined to land his top target.

"It is our target to make it a permanent situation," he said. "Hopefully we can get somewhere in the near future to do that.

"It's our main priority. There are negotiations between the club and Liverpool.

"We have to pursue it to the very end one way or another and we will find out as quick as we can if it is a yes or a no.

"If we can start with Andy Carroll that would be a great achievement for us as he can only get better and better.

"Then we build around that in terms of how we want to improve next year, with better quality.

"Andy is a player that is wanting to enjoy his football. He lives for his football and wants to play every game. He wants to use his strengths and score as many as he can - but he also works very hard for the team."