West Ham have added two new central defenders to their squad this summer.
West Ham United defender Angelo Ogbonna has told the club’s official website that he is looking forward to competing for places with new signings Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena.
Manuel Pellegrini has come to east London and brought in seven new players, finally convincing the club’s owners to spend big and break the club’s transfer record on two separate occasions.
One of those was the signing of Diop from Toulouse, before the club finally landed Felipe Anderson from Lazio for a fee believed to be well above £40million.
The Hammers also signed Paraguay international Balbuena, who is nicknamed The General and renowned for his tough-tackling style of play. Ogbonna, 30, delivered his verdict on the duo, and discussed competition at the back.
“We have a lot of competition. We bought Issa Diop and he has shown he has got good qualities. He likes to fight, he reads the game,” Ogbonna said. “Balbuena, I didn’t know him, but they said he was one of the best in the Brazilian competition.
“I think it’s really good to have competition for the training and for the games. You can train with high quality and so I think it’s really good when your team is competitive. You can fight for your place and fight for something good.”
West Ham have also completed deals for Lukasz Fabianski, Ryan Fredericks, Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko this summer, while new deals are also expected to arrive before August 9’s deadline.
Pellegrini begins his reign as West Ham boss on August 12, as they travel north to Merseyside to face Liverpool at Anfield.
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