This afternoon West Ham completed the signing of 23 year old Sampdoria midfielder Pedro Obiang for £4.5 million on a five year contract. He’s a robust, defensive midfielder who scored three goals in 34 appearances for seventh placed Sampdoria last season in Italy. All in all, he’s placed 128 times for Sampdoria since making his debut at the age of 18. The club website have helpfully put together ten facts about Pedro…
* Pedro Obiang is sometimes known as just ‘Perico’.
* Pedro Obiang’s home city of Alcalá de Henares – meaning Citadel on the river Henares – is a central Spanish city whose historical centre is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites due to its rich archaeology.
* Only five players attempted more tackles than Pedro Obiang (153) in Serie A last season.
* Pedro Obiang made his European debut for Sampdoria against Debrecen back in December 2010 in the Europa League.
* In a poll conducted in 2013 by Inside Spanish football Pedro Obiang was named in the top 15 Spanish youngsters.
* When it comes to passing completion Pedro Obiang is one of the star performers having an 82.2 per cent completion rate for Sampdoria in Serie A last season.
* Pedro Obiang showed his quality at a young age when he made the move from Atletico Madrid to Sampdoria, aged just 16.
* Pedro Obiang will be hoping to maintain his impressive disciplinary record for West Ham as he never picked up a red card during his spell at Sampdoria.
* The talented midfielder has plenty of international experience having played for Spain’s Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 side.
* Pedro Obiang is described as a box-to-box midfielder and has already been compared to Yaya Toure.
So that makes three signngs so far this summer, although the club website seems to reckon it’s only two. They have forgotten about Stephen Hendrie.