Craig Dawson is relishing the opportunity to represent West Ham United - eight years on from his first visit to London Stadium.
The Hammers' loan signing from Watford was part of the Team GB squad at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and, after appearing twice for Stuart Pearce's side, visited the Irons' future home to attend the Closing Ceremony of an unforgettable festival of sport.
Now, the 30-year-old defender is a West Ham player and looking forward to showing what he can do at the Club's iconic home...
I’m delighted to be here and really looking forward to being back in the Premier League and working with the manager and group of lads.
I’m really excited and can’t wait to get working with the lads and looking ahead to the game at the weekend.
I can’t wait to get started and share my experience. We’ve obviously got a lot of experienced lads here anyway so to be joining this group of players is an exciting prospect, so I can’t wait to play for the Club.
It’s a talented group and I can add competition to that back line, so hopefully I can slot straight and work hard with the lads and help them improve their game as well.
I was fortunate enough to play under Stuart Pearce for both England U21s and Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics.
I know his training methods and I really enjoyed working with him in the past, so I really look forward to getting back to work with him again.
I made my England U21s debut under Stuart, so obviously he’s a familiar face to get working with and I’m excited to be back working with him.
To play for Team GB at the London Olympics was a special moment in my career and a wonderful experience and one which I’ve carried with me throughout my career.
I was at London Stadium for the ceremonies, so I was able to get an early preview of it. It’s a great ground and I look forward to playing there week-in, week-out.
West Ham is obviously a massive club and London Stadium is a great home stadium and hopefully the fans are back in there soon cheering us on.
To be part of the club, I’m really excited and can’t wait to get to work.
It definitely won’t take me long to settle in, as I’ve played against West Ham quite a few times. They seem a great set of lads. I’ve met them all and I am really looking forward to getting down to work with them. I’m really excited.
It’s definitely a confident group I am coming into after the recent wins over Wolves and Leicester.
We know there are some tough games coming up, but with this group of players and the manager we go into every game to win.
You can see that after the last two games which were top, top performances and hopefully that can continue at Tottenham on Sunday.
It’s a massive Club and, having been here a short while, you can see the size of the Club and the group we’ve got is a very good group.
Hopefully we can continue the run we’re on at the minute and, like I said, I’m just really excited to be here and get down to work.
I had a lot of knockbacks when I was a young kid so that’s probably kept me grounded throughout my career.
To be able to work in an environment like this at a Club like this is a great pleasure, a great opportunity and one I have worked so hard for, and one which I will continue to work as hard as I possibly can for at the training ground every day, to get the results on a matchday.
