West Ham United sign Greece international Konstantinos Mavropanos

West Ham United are delighted to announce the signing of Greece international Konstantinos Mavropanos.

The centre-back – known to his family, friends and teammates as ‘Dinos’ – arrives at London Stadium from German Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Capped 19 times by his country, Athens-born Mavropanos is a dominant presence at 6’4, a defender who plays on the front foot and is now looking forward to bringing his extensive range of talents to east London.

“I am really happy and excited to be here – and to be back in the Premier League with West Ham United,” said the new No15, who made his Premier League debut as an Arsenal player in 2018.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining the Club after last season’s Conference League win – and I am really looking forward to the next step in my career. I can promise the fans I will give everything for them and the shirt.”

David Moyes expressed his pleasure at bringing a player to the Club who led the Bundesliga in interceptions made last season, and who has established himself as an automatic starter for his country.

“I’m pleased to welcome Konstantinos to West Ham United,” said the manager, who adds Mavropanos to a stable of central defenders that also includes Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd, Angelo Ogbonna and the versatile Thilo Kehrer.

“We’ve been looking to add to our centre-half options this summer, so it’s good we’ve been able to bring in an international defender of his ability.

“We’re really looking forward to integrating him into the group.”

Born in Athens in December 1997, Mavropanos started his career with local club Apollon Smyrnis as a ten-year-old before signing his first professional contract with PAS Giannina in the northern city of Ioannina in 2016.

The tall, physically imposing defender debuted in a Greek Cup win over Agrotikos at 18 years and eleven months and totaled 20 appearances for PAS, including 16 in the Super League, while still a teenager.

In January 2018, Arsenal brought him to north London, and he made his first appearance for the Gunners in a Premier League fixture against Manchester United three months later. The youngster played eight times across 18 months before being loaned to German side 1. FC Nürnberg in January 2020.

Impressive performances there saw him sign a new Arsenal contract and be loaned to Bundesliga club Stuttgart for each of the next two seasons, 2020/21 and 2021/22. After netting five goals in 55 appearances, he made the transfer permanent in May 2022 and added another 34 games and three goals last term.

For Greece, Mavropanos was capped at U21 level before making his senior debut in a friendly win over Honduras in March 2021. Since then, he has hardly missed a game, starting four FIFA World Cup qualifiers, six UEFA Nations League ties and all three UEFA European Championship qualifiers played so far.

Everyone at West Ham United would like to welcome Konstantinos to London Stadium and wish him every success in Claret and Blue.

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In a recent tweet, journalist Patrick Berger stated that West Ham United are hoping to land Rennes winger Jeremy Doku this summer. It has been claimed that the Hammers are eyeing a move to acquire the services of the Belgian sensation before the end of this transfer window.

Doku enjoyed a decent campaign at the French club recently after he produced a handful of impressive displays on the right side of their attack. The Belgium international participated in 35 matches for Rennes last season, scoring seven goals and grabbing four assists in multiple competitions.

The 21-year-old was a reliable performer in the final third as he averaged 0.9 shots, 1.0 key passes and 3.3 dribbles per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 football. He even distributed possession relatively well in the opponent’s half, based on his pass success rate of 86.4% in the French first division (stats via whoscored).

His current contract at the French club will expire in the summer of 2025. Hence, it won’t be easy for the Hammers to land him on the cheap during this transfer window.

oku can use his pace to make a few dangerous runs with the ball on the attacking end of the field. The Belgian talent has got the vision to engineer some decent chances for his teammates up top and can be a hard man to stop when he is running at full swing in the opponent’s half.

Doku is primarily a right-winger but can also serve as a left-sided wide player if told to do so. However, it remains to be seen whether he can cope with the physicality and high intensity of Premier League football if West Ham manage to get him on board soon.

We can expect Doku to add more pace and goals to the East London club‘s attack and help David Moyes’ team challenge for a top-half finish in the top tier of English football this season. Thus, the Hammers should focus their attention on snapping Doku up in this ongoing transfer period.