West Ham United's Thilo Kehrer joins Monaco on loan with option to buy

Kehrer, who passed a medical on Thursday, returns to France just 18 months after leaving Paris Saint-Germain to join the Hammers on a four-year deal in August 2022.

It is understood that Monaco will pay an initial €500,000 (£431,000) for the loan deal, which also contains an €11m (£9.5m) option to make it permanent.

Sky Deutschland reports that there are performance-related credentials that could turn the option to buy into an obligation this summer.

Kehrer made 38 appearances for West Ham last season, including 27 outings in the Premier League and a further eight in the club's triumphant Europa Conference League campaign.

However, the Germany international has fallen down the pecking order under David Moyes this term and has started only four of his 12 appearances in all tournaments, failing to start a single game in the Premier League.

Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd, Angelo Ogbonna and summer signing Konstantinos Mavropanos have all been preferred ahead of Kehrer in central defence, while Vladimir Coufal and Ben Johnson have both battled for starts at right-back.

In search of regular game time, the 27-year-old has decided to join a Monaco side who currently sit third in the Ligue 1 table and seven points adrift of leaders PSG at the halfway point.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday ahead of West Ham's FA Cup third-round tie with Bristol City on Sunday, first-team coach Billy McKinlay said: "Thilo Kehrer had a good 18 months with us and was a significant part of our squad.

"This year, he's maybe not played as much as he'd like but moving to Monaco on loan is a good chance for him to get some minutes."

Kehrer could be in a position to make his Monaco debut against Lens in the fourth round of the Coupe de France on Sunday.