Alessandro Diamanti is proud of his time with West Ham United.

The former West Ham attacker retired earlier this year while playing in Australia.

He told whufc.com: “Having the chance to play in the Premier League was the opportunity of a lifetime.

“I knew all about the Club and its supporters and, of course, one of our greatest-ever Italian footballers, Gianfranco Zola, was the manager. It was a good feeling to know that he wanted me to play for him and I can remember being 100% excited at the possibility coming to London, even though I realised it would take two or three months adjust.

“There are obviously two very different styles between Serie B and the Premier League and Gianfranco really helped me to understand what I needed to do to adapt from playing in the Italian second division to the top-flight in England."