The Hammers are long term admirers of Zouma and have made big strides forward in their efforts to snap him up, having struck a verbal agreement with Chelsea over a £25.6m move.
However, West Ham are yet to agree to personal terms with Zouma, who is demanding £125,000 per week in wages, which would make him the highest earner at the London Stadium.
Former Premier League star Bent is of the view that Zouma has not earned the right to demand such a high figure in wages with the way he has been performing in recent seasons.
Bent added that there are lot of players in the West Ham dressing room that had a stellar campaign last term and are deserving of being the highest paid player at the London Stadium, but Zouma does not have the body of work to be demanding the kind of wages he is asking for at the moment.
Asked whether Zouma’s demands to be made the best paid player at West Ham could upset the rest of the team, Bent told talkSPORT: “Listen it might do that.
“Again, it is a premium, he is coming from Chelsea so that is why he is trying to command those kinds of figures, but at the same time, I do not think he has earned the right in terms of performances on the pitch.
“You look at some of the superstars of last season, [Michail] Antonio, Tomas Soucek, Declan Rice, [Craig] Dawson, I mean one to eleven.
“If he comes in and says I want to be the highest paid player, if I am one of the other players in the dressing room, I am kind of asking the question, well why?
“I get you are coming from Chelsea, but I would not say his performances over the last couple of seasons have seen him deserve that highest paid player at West Ham [tag].”
It remains to be seen whether West Ham will mange to water down Zouma’s demands and seal a deal for him with only a week remaining in the transfer window.
