Sam Allardyce believes Cheikhou Kouyate’s hopes of becoming the “new Patrick Vieira” are alreadybeing achieved.

The west Ham manager is hugely excited by the player and says: “I look at him and see Patrick. I, for one, would be delighted if he came close to emulating Patrick’s consistent level of performance.”

He believes his League debut against Spurs last weekend was a man of the match performance and “one which you don’t see too often in the Premier League.”

He added: “Normally, when players first come here from abroad, they’re shouting for pure oxygen because they struggle to cope with the sheer intensity of our game.”

He was also pleased with Enner Valencia whom he said showed  a glimpse of what he can do when he came on.

Speaking to the Evening Standard he added: “Diafra Sakho is an  an exciting player who has scored prolifically in leagues three and two in France and was about to play in their top league before deciding to come here.

Whether we can convert that raw talent into something fruitful in year one in the Premier League is something on which we will be working hard. “