The West Ham centre-back James Collins is not considering his retirement and has plans to continue playing football for the next eight years.

The Hammers player made 22 appearances and scored two goals this season, and he's looking forward to extending his contract with the Irons.

"I want to play until I'm 40!"

The Welshman said to Whufc.com: "I feel better now than I ever have, to be honest. I’m 33 and feel like I can play until… who knows? I played with Teddy Sheringham until he was 40!"

The 33-year old didn't have an outstanding year, as did most Hammers, but was an important piece to the squad as the club managed to avoid relegation by some distance towards the end.

He added: “I got back in the team towards the end of the season and it went well.

"We picked up some points and managed to get safe and I was pleased with my own form."

Collins trusts that the Irons will have a better campaign next season

Collins admits the change of the old stadium Boleyn Ground to London Stadium might have been compromised the Hammers team-spirit.

"I was speaking to Nobes [Mark Noble] about it after the Spurs game and that, as well as the Chelsea night in the EFL Cup there, it needed a night or two like that to create a bit of history at the new stadium."

He continued to say that their victories in important derbies against Chelsea and Tottenham wrote some new history for the club.

“Now people can look back and have some good memories, and I think they will start things off and you’ll see a different team here next season."

“If you look at our home games, the two best atmospheres were for Chelsea and Tottenham at home and we’ve beaten them both."

The defender finished by saying that without the fans they could not have achieved those results over their biggest rivals.

The Hammers finished the season as 11th in Premier League. They were uninspired after last summer signalled a lot of promise at the club, especially with Dimitri Payet's exit from East-London for a return to France.

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Amanda Bernardi
Brazilian, Sports writer. Contact: [email protected] www.wakelet.com/@amandapaulab