West Ham open talks with Mark Noble over executive role at the club after he retires

West Ham are in talks with captain Mark Noble about taking up a football executive role at the end of the season.

Club legend Noble hangs up his boots this summer after spending his entire career at the Hammers and the club are keen to keep the 34-year-old on board.

It is understood that dialogue between the club and their skipper, who is known to have a close relationship with the club’s hierarchy, is now underway with a hope that Noble can stay on in a leading football operations position ahead of next season.

Rob Newman was appointed West Ham’s head of recruitment in the last year, but there could be role to work alongside the former Manchester City administrator for Noble.

West Ham are aware Noble is keen to move into a position where he can use his considerable experience of the club and the game to have an influence in shaping their future.

Speaking in August, West Ham boss David Moyes hinted at Noble’s desire to head into an executive role instead of coaching.

‘I think Mark has other ideas, maybe a role as a sporting director or a technical director rather than on the footballing side,’ said the Hammers boss.

Speaking in August, West Ham boss David Moyes (left) hinted at Noble’s (right) desire to head into an executive role at the club instead of coaching

Kurt Zouma has recovered from the bug that ruled him out of Sunday’s draw at Leicester

Meanwhile, Kurt Zouma has recovered from the stomach bug that ruled him out of Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Leicester.

The central defender, who was at the centre of controversy last week after images emerged of him kicking a cat, withdrew from the starting XI to face Brendan Rodgers’ side during the warm-up – but he is understood to have returned to training and is likely to be in contention to face Newcastle on Saturday.

Zouma was fined two weeks wages and lost his Adidas sponsorship deal as a result of the controversy. However, the sportswear giants have found themselves under intense social media criticism in recent days for their decision to dump Zouma, to the point where Boycott Adidas was trending on Twitter last week.

There is a concern that the decision to remove Zouma from their roster has racial undertones, particularly given Adidas stuck with Luis Suarez after he racially abused Patrice Evra and bit Giorgio Chiellini.