Emerson Palmieri credits the arrival of West Ham United’s newest signings with helping the levels grow higher and mentality become stronger across the team.
Four new Hammers are making their home in east London with midfield duo James Ward-Prowse and Edson Álvarez joined in the last week by Greek international defender Konstantinos Mavropanos and Ghana attacker Mohammed Kudus, with the latter signing for the Irons on Sunday.
Ward-Prowse and Álvarez have already made an immediate impact in Claret and Blue. Ward-Prowse followed two assists on his debut with a first West Ham goal against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, while Álvarez enjoyed an immense full debut on the South Coast too.
That quality, shown by both, has not been limited to match action though. According to Emerson, both continue to display their ability in each and every training session too.
“James has been helping us a lot, with his set-pieces and his all-round game,” the full-back said. “He’s a quality player and we’re happy with him. He played a big role today and I’m sure he will throughout the season. He’s showed in training, and in both games, that he is a quality player. He has so much intelligence with the ball.
“Edson is a more defensive player. He’s an animal. He is a hard worker and, in the game, you can see him moving. He’s unbelievable because he runs for everyone.
“He’s an animal because, in training and in the warm-ups, he’s like he’s in the games. He wants to put in 100 per cent all the time. When you have a guy like this, who wants to fight and run for everyone, it makes it something that everyone wants to do. He’s our teammate and when Álvarez does these things, we want to do it too.”
An impressive performance at the American Express Stadium on Saturday earned the Irons a first-ever Premier League win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Ward-Prowse’s first-half finish was followed by goals from Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen, both netting their respective second goals of the season in the top-flight, putting the Hammers on seven points from three league matches played.
Emerson continued: “It was a good performance. It’s always hard to play against this Brighton team. They play with the ball and create a lot of chances, but we did well on our counter-attacks and scored three really nice goals.
“Michail has been at West Ham for a lot of years and he’s still playing at a high level. I think he showed his quality against Brighton and he helped us to a big win.”
With Mavropanos and Kudus now joining Ward-Prowse and Álvarez at West Ham, Emerson says the addition of the four new players has led to a boost within the squad dynamic, both on the training pitches and in the dressing room.
With a trip to face newly-promoted Luton Town awaiting the side on Friday, Emerson is eager to keep the good feeling rolling on.
“With these new guys, and with the other midfielders too, we’ve got some good players in the middle,” he added. “They are good players and the two new signings bring quality as well, so it’s good depth in that area.
“When new players arrive in the squad, they want to show their quality. So the levels start to go up across the team. We start to see that mentality and we want to go with them. They help us and we help them. It’s a good connection. The last couple of weeks have been really good and we want to keep playing well.”
