Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun is delighted with his loan return to West Ham United.

The Israel captain, who enjoyed two fantastic seasons at the Boleyn Ground between 2005 and 2007, has moved back to east London on loan from Chelsea.

"Thank you very much to everyone who has welcomed me back," he told whufc.com. "I'm delighted to be here because I've been here before and this is a great club and I just cannot wait to start playing here again.

"I think the deal went through about one minute before the deadline! We had a long day because I had conversations with a lot of teams during the transfer window and a few of them made offers to me.

"West Ham actually came in during the last few hours of the transfer window and, when they did, we tried to seal the deal and I was delighted when we did it."