West Ham United have completed their seventh signing of the summer, with Jonathan Calleri officially completing his loan move to the Hammers.
Happy to be here
The Argentine, who played in the recent Olympics, was given international clearance to make the move, and has been named in the squad for Thursday's game with Astra Giurgiu.
The 22-year-old has been prolific for parent club Deportivo Maldonado, and with Boca Juniors and Sao Paolo, where he finished top scorer in the Copa Libertadores. Calleri has become the sixth Argentine to play for the Hammers, and the forward shared his delight to have signed for the club.
"I am very happy to have signed for West Ham,” the new number 28 told whufc.com, who believes “This represents a fantastic new challenge for me and I am really looking forward to it." Calleri admitted: “The Premier League is the best league in the world and so I am delighted to have this opportunity to play in such a prestigious league.”
The Argentine insisted to the club website: “It is a new chapter for me and so I am excited to get started here and to fit in as quickly as possible," so that he can be as "useful as possible to my new teammates and manager." Calleri concluded: “These are exciting times for me personally and I am motivated to adapt my game to this new environment."
Big week for the club
Slaven Bilic's side were left disappointed by their late 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, in their opening league match of the season. However Calleri and the rest of the squad will have to pick themselves up, with the play-off against Giurgiu, and the opening league game at the London Stadium against AFC Bournemouth just a few days apart.
Latest signing Arthur Masuaku, made his debut at Stamford Bridge, and admitted that it is a big week for the club. The former Olympiacos full-back admitted: “This is a big week for the Club and we have two important games in the Europa League and then the first home game against Bournemouth," and the Frenchman said "I hope we are going to win the next two games.”
West Ham United will take on Astra Giurgiu in their Europa League play-off at the Stadionul Marin Anastasovici on Thursday, August 18 with kick-off at 7:45pm BST.