West Ham United have reportedly snubbed a £3million bid from Premiership rivals Wigan Athletic for left-sided midfielder Matthew Etherington.

Matthew Etherington who was born in Cornwall on 14th August 1981 started his career at Peterborough United for whom he made 43 appearances, netting six times before a dream move to Tottenham Hotspur in 13th December 1999. The deal was worth £7000.000 and also involved Simon Davies joining Spurs as well and he went on to make 20 Premiership appearances scoring once. Whilst at White Hart Lane he was loaned to Bradford City in October 2001 fro a couple of months for whom he netted once in 12 league appearances.

He joined the West Ham United in a straight swap deal for Fredi Kanoute on 4th August 2003 and to date he has made 128 appearances, scoring eleven times during his Boleyn Ground career.

Unsurprisingly, given the bad feeling between the two clubs over the Carlos Tevez affair, the offer, and its timing, is thought to have been met with some incredulity at Upton Park and been rejected out of hand.

Nevertheless, the likelihood is that the unsettled 25-year-old winger, who almost joined Fulham in the January transfer window, will leave the Hammers, although West Ham are believed to be demanding a far higher fee than has been currently lodged by Wigan.