From the Boardroom - David Gold

West Ham United Joint-Chairman David Gold reflects on a busy week of transfer activity

We have had some movement in the transfer window this week with the signing of Sam Byram from Leeds United and the departure of Mauro Zarate to Fiorentina.


We are all excited by the arrival of Sam who I am sure will be another quality addition to the squad.


Our plan was to bring him in during the summer, but we needed to move fast as Everton were also hoping to sign him and we won the race to clinch his signature.


Sam has the potential to be one of the best full-backs in the country and he is a player who could be with us for many years to come.


Mauro has left the Club for a new challenge in Italy. I first saw him play at Birmingham as a young man and we knew he would be a good player.


We wish him well in his new adventure at Fiorentina and I thought his message on leaving the club was one of the warmest I have seen in all my years in football, with the exception of Jack Collison whose heartwarming message will never be forgotten.


We have players coming back from injury and it will not be long before we see Andy Carroll, Manuel Lanzini and Diafra Sakho back in first-team action so we are in pretty good shape.


But having said that, if another opportunity comes along before the window closes we will grasp it.


This has been a big week for myself and David Sullivan after we celebrated our sixth anniversary since arriving at West Ham United back in 2010.


It was an emotional day on Tuesday and I have to say a big thank you to the fans for all the messages of support.


We are now preparing for another big game against Manchester City on Saturday.


We have already come away with some big victories this season, including a memorable double over Liverpool and there is no reason why we cannot do the same against the former Premier League champions.


We are sixth in the table and only a few points behind Manchester City, so we should not fear playing against them.


In the past I have approached games like this wondering if we could come away with a point. Now I feel we can come away with a victory?


I am sure Slaven would agree with that and will be saying the same thing to his players.