Lazio star Valon Behrami has completed his £5million move to West Ham United, signing a five year deal.
Here’s everything you need to know about the man they call ‘the Swiss David Beckham’…
1) Valon Behrami was born on 19 April 1985 in Mitrovica, Kosovo. However, his Kosovan parents moved to Stabio – a small village in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland – when he was very young, which is how he became a Swiss national.
2) He played for a number of Swiss sides as a youth – FC Stabio, FC Chiasso and FC Lugano – before being jointly signed by Genoa and Udinese in 2003. A year later Genoa bought out Udinese’s stake and promptly loaned Behrami to Serie B side Hellas Verona.
3) After impressing at Verona, Italian giants Lazio signed Behrami in 2005. Operating both on the right wing and at full-back, he went on to make 64 appearances in Serie A, scoring four goals for the club.
4) All of which you can see here:
5) He will forever be feted in one half of Italy’s capital for scoring Lazio’s winner in the Rome derby earlier this year - severely denting arch rivals Roma’s title hopes in the process.
6) It was lucky he did, because Behrami was comically responsible for Roma’s opener, when his attempted clearance cannoned off Taddei’s head and into the back of the Lazio net. Watch it at about 1:07 below:
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7) He’d represented Switzerland at U-18 and U-19 before making his debut as a last minute substitute against France during a World Cup qualifier in October 2005. Behrami has scored two goals for his country, including a crucial strike against Turkey in the 2006 World Cup qualifying play-off.
8) He’s often been called the ‘Swiss David Beckham’ on account of his flamboyantly fashionable hair-cuts, penchant for tattoos and the fact that he dates Italian supermodel Elena Bonzanni.
9) And here’s a link to a picture of the happy couple.They’ll fit in well tucking into some pre-match pie ‘n’ mash in Ken’s Café on a Saturday afternoon.
10) Despite being valued recently at £11m, it was rumoured that Behrami was going to invoke the Webster Clause to buy out his contract in order to move to Upton Park. But Hammers sporting director Gianluca Nani predicted Lazio and West Ham would be able to work out a "solution that doesn't consider Fifa article 17". They obviously got it sorted and Behrami will be pulling on a West Ham shirt next season.
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