West Ham have confirmed the signing of the Spain Under-21 midfielder Pedro Obiang from Sampdoria for an undisclosed fee.
The 23-year-old is the first player to join the club since the appointment of Slaven Bilic as the new manager. Obiang made 35 appearances for Sampdoria last season, scoring three goals as the Blucerchiati finished seventh in Serie A to qualify for the Europa League.
“I’m very happy to have signed,” said Obiang, who has agreed a four-year contract. “We have been talking about this for a long time and now I’ve finally got the chance to come here. I went on holiday after the season had finished and I was looking forward to receiving that call to tell me where and when to sign for this club.
“I’m very excited to play in the Premier League. It’s a style of football that will help me to progress as a player and as a person.
“I think Bilic is a manager that can do very well here. I know that he was a West Ham player and he did very well with the Croatian national team. He is a manager that likes to play good football and I really like that so I am sure that we will get along very well.”
West Ham’s co-chairman David Gold was caught in a case of mistaken identity when welcoming Obiang on his personal Twitter account.
Gold posted the message: “I am delighted to announce the signing of 23 year old midfield Pedro Obiang from Sampdoria. Pedro, welcome. dg” which was accompanied by a photo... of Juventus centre-back Angelo Ogbonna.
Upon realising his error, the tweet was soon removed, but not before some light-hearted banter by Irons fans.
Gold later uploaded another message, this time with a photograph of Obiang on the pitch at Upton Park holding a claret-and-blue scarf.
The West Ham co-chairman then added: “I’ve just spoke to Pedro and he sounded v excited to be here. He promised me that he’d learn to sing Bubbles in less than a month! dg”
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