Benayoun joins West Ham
09/02/2012 04:23
Yossi Benayoun joined West Ham United on a one-year loan deal from Chelsea, returning to the Hammers.
Yossi Benayoun Photo: Reuters
Yossi Benayoun joined West Ham United on a one-year loan deal from Chelsea on
Friday night, returning to the Hammers five years after leaving for
Liverpool.
The 32-year-old midfielder played for West Ham for two seasons
between 2005 and 2007, and decided to move back to East London after being told
that he is not in Chelsea’s plans for the coming season, the third and final of
his contract at the European champion.
Benayoun was restricted to 10
appearances for Chelsea in 2010/11 due to an Achilles injury and took part in 25
matches on loan at Arsenal last season.
“After a long and busy day I can
say I had three offers from PL clubs..but not from Liverpool or Arsenal like
some reports,” Benayoun wrote on his Twitter account.
“But I’m very happy
to confirm that I will join on loan to West Ham! I can’t wait to start...great
club.”
The final day of the European August transfer window was extremely
busy as expected, with Manchester City signing midfielder Javi Garcia from
Benfica for an undisclosed fee, as well as Brazil international defender Maicon,
Scott Sinclair and Richard Wright.
The 25-year-old Garcia is expected to
fill the gap left by Nigel De Jong, who joined AC Milan earlier in the day,
while right-back Maicon joined from Inter Milan and Sinclair arrived from
Premier League rivals Swansea.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid agreed to take
Ghana midfielder Michael Essien on loan from Chelsea for the rest of the
season.
The 29-year-old, who joined Chelsea from Olympique Lyon in 2005,
links up again with former Stamford Bridge boss Jose Mourinho.
The
combative midfielder has won two Premier League titles, four FA Cups and one
Champions League at the London club, but had his 2011/12 campaign ruined by a
knee injury and struggled to win a regular place in the Chelsea starting 11 on
his return.
Reuters contributed to this report