Emerson Palmieri names the one West Ham signing who has impressed everyone

West Ham are second in the Premier League after picking up seven points from their first three games and defender Emerson Palmieri says the club's new signings have made a quick impact

West Ham defender Emerson Palmieri says the club's transfer business this summer has added quality and depth into their squad.

Much was made of how the Hammers were going to replace club captain Declan Rice this summer, with the midfielder joining Arsenal in a transfer worth £105million. Four players have since arrived through the door at the London Stadium, with three of those being midfielders.

Set-piece specialist James Ward-Prowse was signed from Southampton for around £30million, adding valuable Premier League experience into David Moyes' squad, while a combined up to £73million is going Ajax's way in separate deals for Mexican international Edson Alvarez (£35million) and Mohammed Kudus (£38million).

Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos has also joined from Stuttgart for around £19million, though West Ham's net spend remains around -£18million thanks to the sales of Rice, Gianluca Scamacca, Nikola Vlasic and Arthur Masuaku.

Emerson says the quality of the new additions he's seen so far, especially Ward-Prowse and Alvarez who have both already made two appearances each in claret and blue, has been good to see, with the levels in training already going up according to the full-back.

“James has been helping us a lot, with his set-pieces and his all-round game,” Palmieri said. “He’s a quality player and we’re happy with him. He played a big role today and I’m sure he will throughout the season. He’s showed in training, and in both games, that he is a quality player. He has so much intelligence with the ball.

“Edson is a more defensive player. He’s an animal. He is a hard worker and, in the game, you can see him moving. He’s unbelievable because he runs for everyone. He’s an animal because, in training and in the warm-ups, he’s like he is in the games.

"He wants to put in 100 per cent all the time. When you have a guy like this, who wants to fight and run for everyone, it makes it something that everyone wants to do. He’s our teammate and when Álvarez does these things, we want to do it too.”

He continued: “With these new guys, and with the other midfielders too, we’ve got some good players in the middle. They are good players and the two new signings bring quality as well, so it’s good depth in that area.

“When new players arrive in the squad, they want to show their quality. So the levels start to go up across the team. We start to see that mentality and we want to go with them. They help us and we help them. It’s a good connection. The last couple of weeks have been really good and we want to keep playing well.”

West Ham have started the Premier League season with two wins and a draw, beating Chelsea 3-1 at the London Stadium and ending their run of 12 top-flight games without victory against Brighton by winning 3-1 at the Amex Stadium last weekend.

They now face newly-promoted Luton Town at Kenilworth Road on Friday night, with the Hatters having lost both of their games so far this season. If the Hammers win, they would go back to the top of the Premier League table ahead of Manchester City, who take on Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.