West Ham United are delighted to announce the permanent signing of Hungary Under-21 goalkeeper Peter Kurucz from Ujpest FC.
The shot-stopper, who had been on loan since early February, has agreed a permanent four-year deal for an undisclosed fee. Along with Marek Stech, he will help provide good competition for England goalkeeper Robert Green.
Kurucz has impressed greatly since arriving at the club, working closely with goalkeeping coach Ludek Miklosko at Chadwell Heath. The youngster, who turned 21 last Saturday, made his debut in the Barclays Premier Reserve League fixture against Aston Villa at Bishop's Stortford on 17 March. He went on to make a total of five appearances for Alex Dyer's side.
The goalkeeper was also given the opportunity to travel with the first-team squad to the Barclays Premier League fixtures at Bolton Wanderers and Aston Villa before being named among the substitutes for the first time at Everton on 16 May. Following the end of the season, Kurucz was also selected to take part in the HKFC IP Global Soccer Sevens tournament in Hong Kong.
Prior to linking up with the Hammers, Kurucz began his career with Budapest-based Ujpest, making eleven first-team appearances for the club. The tall goalkeeper also enjoyed a loan spell at FC Tatabanya. The highly-rated Hungarian joins West Ham's stable of international stoppers that also includes England's Green, Czech Republic U21 man Stech, Canada U20 prospect Adam Street and Turkey U17 goalkeeper Deniz Mehmet.