West Ham have confirmed the signing of Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy for a club record fee of £7.5million. Bellamy, 28 next week, agreed a five-year deal at Upton Park after it was made clear he had no future at Anfield following the arrival of Spain international Fernando Torres.
The transfer was agreed on Friday but was delayed over the weekend as Bellamy thrashed out contractual issues with Liverpool.
The Wales captain is West Ham's fourth summer signing and takes manager Alan Curbishley's spending since he arrived at Upton Park in December to nearly £40million.
The deal for Bellamy breaks West Ham's previous transfer record of £7.25million, which the Hammers paid Norwich for Dean Ashton in January 2006.
Bellamy joins midfielders Scott Parker and Julien Faubert plus goalkeeper Richard Wright in signing for the Hammers this summer.
Curbishley had previously targeted Darren Bent and had a £17million offer accepted by Charlton, only for the England striker to reject the Hammers for Tottenham.
Meanwhile, Liverpool and Ajax are set to strike a deal for talented winger Ryan Babel in the coming days according to the Dutch club - but only if the Merseysiders meet their €20million asking price. The Amsterdammers' technical director Martin van Geel admitted talks between the clubs had taken place but that a fee had not yet been agreed.
Van Geel told AD Sportwereld: "Liverpool is willing to pay a huge sum for Ryan. We have told them what we want, and that's €20million. That is our price.
"We would like to see Babel play here next season, it's not for nothing that we have extended his contract until June 2010. But if these kind of clubs want to pay us these figures it says something. We will see if we can reach a deal in the coming days."
Babel, who starred for Holland in the recent Under-21 European Championships, admitted it was "very nice" that Liverpool had expressed an interest in taking him to Anfield.
The 20-year-old said: "I had heard that there were some stories on the internet but that happens quite often. This (Liverpool's interest) is serious news to me. "I haven't thought about a transfer for a minute, I will do that soon though. That such a big club is interested is of course very nice."
Babel's agent Winnie Haatrecht issued a note of caution, however, and stated only a move which would benefit his client from a playing point of view would be considered.
Haatrecht said: "The route is very clear First Liverpool and Ajax need to get an agreement about a transfer, that's step one. After that we want to know what the technical staff of Liverpool has planned for Ryan.
"The sporting perspective must be totally clear. Only then can Ryan make a good choice. Of course Liverpool is a great club. But it must not be that he needs to fight with eight strikers for two positions. We must also look at the development of Ryan."
