Benayoun predicts a bright future for Hammers
Yossi Benayoun is convinced West Ham will be in the hunt for trophies again next season and he backed the Hammers to be a force in Europe after a stunning first season at Upton Park.
Benayoun was signed last summer as a virtual unknown from Racing Santander and was key to the newly-promoted Hammers finishing ninth in the Barclays Premiership, reaching the FA Cup final and qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
The season finished on a disappointing note at the Millennium Stadium with a defeat to Liverpool on penalties, but Benayoun believes the future is bright for West Ham.
“The way we played against one of the best teams has given us a lot of confidence that we can play at this level against the best players,” said the Israel international.
“Hopefully next year we will play at this level in the UEFA Cup because we want to go a long way and also play well in the league. We can do it. We showed we can play good football.
“Before the season we brought in new players who are hungry to achieve things and work hard, so it’s very important to keep the players and also bring in a few new players who can make the team stronger.
“I think we will do that and West Ham next season will again be a very good team.
“The FA Cup final was a wonderful day and maybe next season we will be here again and it will go for us.”
Danny Gabbidon, Hammer of the Year and another of the key signings boss Alan Pardew made last summer, agreed.
“I don’t think we’ll look out of place in the UEFA Cup. We’ll go into it very confident and we can probably bring a few new additions in to help. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully it’ll be a great year,” said the Wales international.
Pardew has a war-chest of around £15m (€22m) with which to strengthen his squad. He was fortunate for the majority of this campaign that West Ham suffered relatively few injuries but as Middlesbrough proved, a successful UEFA Cup campaign will test even the deepest of squads.
Benayoun has been linked with a summer move to Liverpool but Pardew would not lose his “Israeli jewel” lightly.
And Benayoun said: “It is the manager’s main idea to keep the players together. You always need to strengthen. We have good players but now we play in the UEFA Cup and all the cups in England it will be a long season and we will need a few more players.”
The backbone of West Ham’s side is English and Benayoun expects to be facing a number of his Hammers team-mates next season when England meet Israel in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
“Dean Ashton has scored a few goals, Marlon Harewood has scored a lot of goals, and there is Paul Konchesky, Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Matthew Etherington,” said Benayoun.
“Nigel is on stand-by for England’s World Cup squad and I think West Ham deserves that. I think we have good players and I wish that maybe after the World Cup they can get into the squad.”
