Emmanuel Emenike finally completed his West Ham loan deal yesterday and the striker will go straight into the squad for tomorrow’s clash against Aston Villa.
The 28-year-old Nigerian has moved to Upton Park until the end of this season from Fenerbahce.
Emenike agreed terms last week before passing a medical. The deal became complicated, though, because it needed the agreement of Fenerbahce and UAE side Al-Ain, where Emenike had been on loan.
Fenerbahce chairman Aziz Yildirim said: “They [West Ham] will give us £760,000 for this agreement with the option to buy him for £8.3m.”
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Slaven Bilic, who previously coached one of Fenerbahce’s main rivals, Besiktas, had seen enough of Emenike to be suitably impressed by the striker, not only in Turkey but also in Russia where he was in charge of Lokomotiv Moscow during the player’s spell at Spartak Moscow.
Emenike will add much-needed firepower to a West Ham attack robbed for much of the season of Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho.
“I have always known West Ham as a great club,” said Emenike.
Nikica Jelavic, meanwhile, is set to move to Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande.
