Sam Allardyce has revealed his delight at finally being able to secure the permanent signing of Andy Carroll.

Allardyce made it no secret throughout the whole of last season and this summer that signing the England striker was his main priority as he aims for a second successive top-ten finish next season.

And he was obviously delighted to finally be able to plan for next season with Carroll at his disposal, explaining that he expects him to become one of England’s best strikers.

He told whufc.com: “After a long chase I am delighted that we have finally secured our very important acquisition in terms of ability and age.

“We expect him to enhance his reputation even further with West Ham and become one of the major strikers in the country and become an England regular – we hope he will produce for West Ham and England as we prepare to move in to the Olympic Stadium in 2016.

“We have acquired a player who was recently the most expensive British player in the history of football. We haven’t done it cheaply, but we have definitely done it wisely.”

And Big Sam went on to stress how important Carroll’s signature is to the attacking threat the side poses and that his ability goes a lot further than just his aerial prowess.

“I said last season we didn’t just use his aerial presence and pump it up to his head,” he said.

“We made the most of his playing ability, his ball skills, his ability to score goals in the air and on the ground, his hold up play and capability to dribble the ball past defenders.

“We’ve now got a combination of Andy Carroll with Matt Jarvis on one side and then either Joe Cole or Ricardo Vaz Te on the other. Kevin Nolan will once again compliment Andy as he got ten last season and Andy got seven. So with Andy’s signature secured, it means as an attacking force we will deliver thrilling times, particularly at the Boleyn Ground, like we did last season.”