Seeing as West Ham has made their second permanent signing of the summer transfer market, I thought that the West Ham fans deserve an article about the man himself, Cheikhou Kouyaté. This transfer has been ongoing for some time now but the board of West Ham fought off top European clubs such as Valencia and Sevilla. Also, British newspapers The Guardian and The Daily Mail have reported that Premier League clubs Arsenal and Manchester City have been sniffing around Cheikhou Kouyaté too.
Cheikhou Kouyaté is 24 years old and has already been a key member of the Anderlecht team that won four league titles in six years. That is some statement for the new West Ham player. Kouyaté has already told www.whufc.com that ‘’big, quick and athletic’’ is how he describes himself so the Hammers fans know what exactly to look out for. Also, he has made it clear that Allardyce has promised him that he will be played in the Midfield area, rather than Centre-Back. Kouyaté has identified that Allardyce is a good man already as the manager came home from his holiday earlier than expected just to get the Senegalese to sign on the dotted line.
Cheikhou Kouyaté stated that he’s wanted to play in the Premier League his whole career so for West Ham to come in for him, it was perfect for him. He has already played in the Olympic Stadium for Senegal at the 2012 Olympics and he believes that it was the right move for the club.
West Ham signed the 6ft4 Senegalese for an estimated £7.5 million, which records at a fee of €9.8 million. With Hamburger SV wanting to sign Guy Demel for a small fee, West Ham will have a rough estimate of £13 million to spend before the transfer market ends at the end of August as the owners promised £20 million would be spent on key players to boost West Ham to a top 10 finish.
All in all, we cannot criticise the price-tag on Cheikhou Kouyaté before he has even kicked a ball so we should support him as he is now officially a West Ham United player and I love the sound of that. I believe that it is a great signing as he has extremely good potential and he’s already won many of trophies at such a young age.