After five years in Serie A, Valon Behrami has decided to try his luck in the Premier League and has completed a move from Lazio to West Ham.

The Swiss international became a fixture in the Biancocelesti side, but relations between the former Verona man and the capital club turned sour.

Behrami demanded that Lazio let him go this summer and even threatened to use FIFA’s Article 17 to free himself from the Aquile.

After links with the Bundesliga faded, West Ham stepped in and have agreed a deal that sees Lazio receive £5m.

The 23-year-old been handed a five-year contract in East London and seemed happy with the fresh start.

“I am delighted to play for West Ham and to play in the Premier League,” he said. “It is a dream come true.

“After the European Championship I spoke to the directors and they told me that they were interested in me.

“It was important to talk to everyone and understand the plans for the future and that made me quickly decide to join West Ham.”

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Francesco Totti has warned Roma they must buy at least two more star players to hope of competing for the top three places.

“John Arne Riise and Simone Loria are two excellent reinforcements, but now I expect another two signings of great quality,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

“If we want to compete with Inter, Milan and Juventus, we need at least two more important players. At the moment, we are the fourth strongest side in Serie A.”

While those two have been brought in from Liverpool and Siena respectively, Roma have also sold Amantino Mancini, Ludovic Giuly and Matteo Ferrari.

It is particularly galling to lose Mancini to rivals Inter just a year after Cristian Chivu made the same journey.

“Inter are trying to strengthen their side by weakening ours. They have the capabilities to cherry-pick from other clubs, while it is more difficult for us.”

Transfer gossip has them very close to capturing Brazilian hitman Julio Baptista from Real Madrid, although there are also rumours that Jose Antonio Reyes is on his way from Atletico Madrid.

“I like Baptista and hope he does come to Roma, but we need another reinforcement after that.”

The transfer market could make a sharp turn for the Giallorossi after it was announced this morning that Italpetroli – the Sensi family’s company that owns Roma – have agreed to extend the terms of their loan with UniCredit.

This means more cash is freed up in the short-term to spend on new players.

“We will try to repeat our past success and aim for something more important than the Coppa Italia,” said the captain.

“The fact the Champions League Final will be played in Rome is an event that for my generation won’t return again. It is our objective, even more so than the Scudetto.”

The last time this match was hosted by the Italian capital was in 1984, when Liverpool and Bruce Grobbelaar’s ‘spaghetti legs’ saw off the Giallorossi in a shoot-out.

“I was eight years old. I watched it on television with my whole family. I remember Roberto Pruzzo’s goal and the silence during the penalties. Rome was mute.”

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Gianluigi Buffon is confident Juventus will challenge all the way for the Champions League and Scudetto.

A full two years after the Calciopoli scandal and their demotion to Serie B, the Bianconeri are back in the thick of the action.

“I am convinced we’ll battle for the Champions League and the Serie A title, as these are objectives Juventus have always gone for,” said the goalkeeper.

“It is going to be a long and very intense year, so we have to start preparing for it as best we can right from now, with the Champions League preliminary round.”

The fans have protested against what they see as a substandard transfer campaign, as Christian Poulsen, Olof Mellberg, Dario Knezevic and Amauri have not convinced everyone.

“The grit and willingness to fight for ambitious objectives have always been present, even if in the last few months we weren’t quite on a par with some of our opponents,” mused Buffon.

“Now we have reinforced the squad and because of that have absolutely no excuse to be anything less than 100 per cent convinced of our potential.

“That is a quality that has always stood by Juventus and we should always hold it dear.”

General manager Jean-Claude Blanc confirmed that Juve will only be signing one more player this season, a second choice goalkeeper to act as Buffon’s understudy.

The latest names circulating are Antonio Chimenti and Siena’s Alex Manninger.

Ref From channel4.com