West Ham United have confirmed the signing of Sam Byram from Leeds United. He joins on a four-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee. The highly-rated right-sided player turned down a move to Everton, in preference of signing for three-time FA Cup winners.
The 22-year-old’s contract at Elland Road was set to expire at the end of this season and elected to reject any new deal, in preference of a move away into the Premier League. He leaves after making 143 senior appearances for the club, scoring ten goals since making his first-team debut 2012.
The newly recruited Claret and Blue man was delighted to put pen to paper and officially sanction a move to the Premier League side, that currently sit in 6th place,
“I’m unbelievably proud and happy to join a club as big as this. I’m just looking forward to what the future holds and hopefully I can achieve things with the team going forward.
It’s a childhood dream of mine to play in the Premier League, so to have the chance to get into a team like this and I just want to get my head down, work hard and hopefully get a chance.
a message for everyone at Leeds.. pic.twitter.com/WIsZ98Rxkm
— Sam byram (@sambyram93) January 20, 2016
I spoke to the manager and he is one of the main reasons which attracted me to West Ham. I think he’s done unbelievably well with his team so far, so I’m really looking forward to working with him and his staff.
My uncle and my cousin are big West Ham fans and have bought their tickets for the new stadium. My uncle was down here yesterday getting a shirt with my name on the back! It’s nice to have them down here and they’ll help me settle so I’m looking forward to seeing them.”
The Essex-born youngster will be hoping to make his debut this weekend as they entertain Manchester United at the Boleyn Ground. Speaking on his departure from Leeds, Byram provided a lengthy message on Twitter, directed for the fans. He said it was ‘hard saying bye to such a good group of lads’ and mentioned it was ‘an absolute honour and privilege every time I had the opportunity to pull on the Leeds United shirt’.
