West Ham confirm signing of Pedro Obiang from Sampdoria

West Ham have confirmed the signing of Spain Under-21 midfielder Pedro Obiang from Sampdoria for an undisclosed fee.

The 23-year-old is the first player to join the Irons since the announcement of Slaven Bilic as the east London club's new manager on Tuesday.

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.

“We have been talking about this for a long time and now I have finally got the chance to come here,” he said.

“I am very excited to play in the Premier League. 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, so it will be very good. 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.”