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Balbuena hails fan power

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Fabian Balbuena has been one of the best signings of the season and couldn’t be more pleased he is here!

Signed at a cost of just £4 million the Paraguayan has produced a fabulous level of form before and after his four month injury lay-off.

His partnership with Issa Diop has been one of the features of a season which has seen the new central defensive pairing seriously impress.

Two clean sheets against Spurs and Southampton is a testament to his influence after the team had been leaking goals like a sieve in previous outings.

And although it’s probably been Diop who has been getting the rave notices, Balbuena has been just as important as the team has improved towards the end of the campaign.

But just as important to the 27 year old has been the support of the fans who he is thrilled stick by him and the team through thick and thin.

He told www.whufc.com: “The fans have always been with us, when we’ve lost games, when we’ve drawn and when we’ve won. They’re always there supporting us and we’ve felt that all season so we’re grateful.”

And on the Southampton game he said: “It was a fantastic way to end the season at home. Always, to win is important, but in the last game at home it’s beautiful to give that emotion to the fans so we’re very happy with Saturday.

And he welcomed Marko Arnautovic’s two goals after an 11 game wait saying:  “It’s great for Marko. We know he always wants to score so we were so happy with this game because all the lads kept working to try and score the goal, and Marko and Ryan deserve it because their performance was very good.

“And as a defender, you always try to keep a clean sheet. We work on it every day in training, to be focused, concentrated and not allow them the space so we are happy to keep that clean sheet.”

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

2 comments

  • Gerry Hill says:

    Could not agree more, quality but rarely mentioned in a year where we have upgraded for the most part IMO the best value signing in the Premier league

  • West Ham Fan No 32 says:

    Without him the defence is far worse than it is without Diop he is the organiser, we don’t see as many heroic challenges from him as we do from Diop but the sign of a class player is that you don’t notice them isn’t it ? He always seems to be in the right place at the right time and goes about his work quietly but the difference on the team as a whole is immense. Great season Balbuena looking forward to seeing you again against Watford and next season COYI !!!

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