West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce is delighted with the way his summer signings have settled.
Allardyce wrote in the London Evening Standard: "People have also assumed that we went looking for a different type of player in the summer. That's not quite accurate. What were searching for was better players and sometimes things evolve quickly and not as you have anticipated.
"Alex Song, for example, was not on our radar when we began our recruitment programme but then, lo and behold, in early August, we heard that he wanted to return to the Premier League and would consider coming to West Ham.
"What we did then as a club, from top to bottom, was make Alex feel that this was the place to come.
"Enner Valencia is another case in point. He wasn't at the top of our list because we didn't think we had any chance of getting him. Diafra Sakho was a similar case because Metz had just won promotion and we didn't believe they would sell.
"In the end, though, once all the business is done, you don't know how things will gel. The biggest plus for me and a real pleasant surprise, is how quickly they have settled in - all nine of them."
