David Connolly has become West Ham's first signing of the summer -- and goes straight into the squad for tonight's pre-season game with Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven.

The 26-year-old is linking up once again with Glenn Roeder -- the manager who handed him his professional debut as a teenager at Watford -- after completing a £258,000 move from Wimbledon yesterday.

And after a prolific spell with the Dons he is looking forward to linking up with his new team-mates after a drawn-out transfer saga which saw him reject promotion rivals Reading and Norwich as well as bids from top-flight clubs.

"I spoke to a lot of very good managers who put a lot of time into signing me; I appreciate that but in the end I decided West Ham was the club for me," he said.

"I know Glenn Roeder from when I was at Watford and it is great to be hooking up with him and working with him again."

Now Connolly is determined to win a regular starting place from Fredi Kanoute or Jermain Defoe and fire the goals to lead Hammers back to the Premiership.

"I think we will need to be well prepared for all the games; there are a lot that might look easy to win on paper but invariably they are tough, and I wouldn't take any of the opposition lightly," he warned, having seen the standard of opposition as he plundered 24 goals from 28 Wimbledon starts last year.

"I think we need to score a lot of goals and be consistent, playing well for a large majority of this season.

"West Ham will come across good players and good teams this season, but I am sure they are more than a match for them."

Published Friday, August 1, 2003

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