West Ham tonight announced the £6.1million signing of Julien Faubert from Bordeaux.
The 23-year-old France midfielder has penned a five-year contract at Upton Park, becoming manager Alan Curbishley's second summer capture following the arrival of Scott Parker from Newcastle.
The Hammers fought off competition from Rangers, who are thought to have offered in the region of £4.5million for the player.
Hammers chairman Eggert Magnusson told the club's official website: 'I am delighted to welcome Julien to Upton Park and feel sure that he will become a very successful signing for the club. '
'He is one of the most highly-rated young players in European football and many clubs were attempting to sign him, so we are very pleased that he has decided to join West Ham United.
'I have been very impressed by his desire and ambition and I think he will be very popular among our supporters.'
Bordeaux's new coach Laurent Blanc had wanted to keep the midfielder but president Jean-Louis Triaud earlier revealed he had accepted West Ham's bid.
Faubert's capture is something of a coup for the Hammers, with the player one of the hottest properties in French football.
It will help ease the pain on missing out on Darren Bent, who recently snubbed West Ham for Tottenham despite being offered better terms at Upton Park.
Faubert began his professional career at Cannes before joining Bordeaux three years ago.
He helped the club finish runners up in the French championship in 2006, qualifying them for last season's Champions League.
Faubert's France debut came against Bosnia in August, and he marked the occasion with the winner in a 2-1 victory.
He was the first player to wear Les Bleus' number 10 shirt since the retirement of the legendary Zinedine Zidane.
As well as West Ham and Rangers, Roma were believed to be interested in acquiring the player.
However, how much Faubert wanted to join West Ham is open to debate, with the player going on strike earlier this week in a bid to force Bordeaux to sell him to Rangers.
His agent Philippe Sol said: 'Julien was given an ultimatum by Bordeaux: West Ham or nowhere.'
'He wanted to go to Rangers and had given them his word. Everything he did last week was about moving to Rangers and he wasn't looking to line up a move anywhere else.
'But there is nothing he could do about the transfer fee and you can understand why Bordeaux wanted to accept the offer from West Ham.'
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2 comments:
From what I have seen and heard this guy looks pretty good.
Almost as good as Chook last night.
"I haven't had a chance to train with my new team-mates yet, but I am looking forward to that. There are some fantastic players here and the squad is very strong.
vumoo
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