Angelo Ogbonna pens new one-year West Ham United contract

The 35-year-old centre-back briefly became a free agent when his original deal expired on June 30, but he has now committed his future to the Hammers by signing a 12-month extension until 2024.

Ogbonna is the second-longest serving player at West Ham after Aaron Cresswell having spent the last eight seasons in East London, making 232 appearances across all competitions.

The experienced Italian missed the majority of the 2021-22 campaign with a serious ACL injury, but he recovered in time to feature in 31 games across all tournaments last season, including 13 Premier League starts and eight outings in the club's triumphant Europa Conference League campaign.

Ogbonna, who joined West Ham from Juventus for around £9.5m in 2015, is settled in London and is looking forward to his ninth season as a Hammer.

Speaking to whufc.com about his new contract, Ogbonna said: "It feels really good to remain with West Ham. I'm really pleased with what we've achieved, and I'm pleased with what we did last season.

"I want to thank the club and, as I always say, I'm here to help. Now I'm here to stay as well and I really want to keep going and pushing on now.

"Everyone welcomed me in the best way when I joined West Ham in 2015 and made me feel like a part of the family here. That was the most important thing and that's why I'm so pleased to stay here. I want to keep giving back.

"I can never really put into words what West Ham means to me. This is the club where I grew up and became a man. This is the club where I've seen my children growing up.

"This is the club which saw me leave my home country for the first time and experience living away from Italy, being here with my wife, and everyone welcomed us to east London with open arms. That is why, whenever I talk about this club, I feel so emotional."

Manager David Moyes added: "I am pleased that Angelo has agreed a new contract with the club. He is an important player for us, both on and off the pitch, and his experience and character has been extremely valuable for us during my time here.

"Angelo did really well to fight back from a serious injury at his age, and we look forward to working with him again next season."

Ogbonna is one of four centre-back options currently available to Moyes ahead of the new season along with Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Thilo Kehrer, while both Cresswell and Ben Johnson have also featured in central defence in a back three.