West Ham Sign Parker

Today Scott Parker became West Ham's first signing of the summer. The midfielder signed from Newcastle for £7 million.

A clearly pleased Alan Curbishley said of the signing,

"I'm delighted Scott has agreed to sign for us. Our relationship goes back some time to when he first joined Charlton as a schoolboy.

"He's coming to the Club knowing full well that we're trying to push forward and he wants to be part of that. Firstly he wants to improve our team; then he wants to improve his chances of forcing his way back into the England scene.

"He has been captain of Newcastle over the last couple of seasons and he is exactly the type of player that I wanted to bring to the Club. He's very experienced but still young and I'm sure he's going to be a big asset to West Ham."

Eggert Magnusson issued another official statement today, basically saying that West Ham were looking to sign players and therefore there will be lots of speculation in the press. Interestingly he was specific in saying,

"I've had a very positive discussion with my good friend Bill Kenwright, the Everton Chairman, and can confirm that West Ham have not and are not bidding for any Everton player at this time."

No Andy Johnson then.