Gold: Valencia is the man!

West Ham’s bosses are convinced they have a “far better squad” than last season at that Enner Valencia will prove to be the icing on the cake.

That the team should be without their marquee signing and Andy Carroll for the opening game – bar a fleeting appearence from the Ecuador international  near the end – was unfortunate.

But co chairman David Gold told ClaretandHugh he is convinced the striker will make a huge difference to the side.

He said: “Don’t expect to see an all action player who is running all over the place all the time.

This is a player who conserves energy to produce electric pace which can l cause massive problems to any Premier League defence.

“He can play through the middle or wide and with him and Andy Carroll in the team we can be a serious, serious force. In the meantime he will be a real  handful on his own account.”

Gold has regularly maintained the likes of Mauro Zarate, Ravel Morrison and Valencia give the manager plenty of options and game plans.

He said: “We believe we have a squad that can play to various systems. We believe we have a winning squad and one that can entertain – that’s what we are looking for this season.”