West Ham have signed defender Pablo Zabaleta on a free transfer once his Manchester City contract expires at the end of June.
The 32-year-old Argentine will join on a two-year deal on 1 July.
He is leaving Manchester City after nine years, and is the club’s third-longest serving player after Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany.
“Sometimes a new challenge is what you need as a person and a player. I hope I can give you good moments,” he said.
“I’m ready for it and looking forward to it. I wanted to keep playing in the Premier League. It is an absolute pleasure to be part of West Ham.”
Zabaleta, who started 22 games in all competitions for City this season, was given an emotional send-off by the club’s fans in the last home game of the season on 17 May.
He joined the Manchester club from Espanyol for £6.5m in 2008 and went on to make 333 appearances, winning two league titles, the FA Cup and two League Cups.
Earlier on Friday, West Ham announced that loanees Jonathan Calleri and Gokhan Tore would be returning to Deportivo Maldonado and Besiktas respectively, while Spanish full-back Alvaro Arbeloa will leave when his contract expires on 30 June
THING YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT PABLO ZABALETA
Pablo Zabaleta has appeared at three different major tournaments for Argentina – the Olympic Games, Copa America and FIFA World Cup.
Argentina’s star-studded 2008 Olympic Gold medal-winning squad included Pablo Zabaleta, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Juan Roman Riquelme, Angel Di Maria and former West Ham United midfielder Javier Mascherano.
June 2011 saw Pablo Zabaleta captain Argentina for the first time in a 3-1 victory over Nigeria at the unlikely venue of the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh!
In May 2012, Pablo Zabaleta opened the scoring in Manchester City’s unforgettable 3-2 final-day victory over Queens Park Rangers that secured their maiden Premier League titles
