Now at Nottingham Forest, Cheikhou Kouyaté first moved to England eight years ago, when West Ham United signed him from Anderlecht for €7.5m.
The player was relatively unknown on this side of the Channel, although his performances with Senegal at the Olympic Games in 2012 put him on the map of quite a few scouts.
That’s when West Ham took notice, and while it took them a couple of years to get the deal done, they never really regretted it.
The now 32-year-old spent four years at London Stadium, making 147 appearances for the Hammers over that time, scoring 15 goals and assisting another 10.
He was then sold to Crystal Palace, where he stayed for another four years before this summer’s move to City Ground as part of Steve Cooper’s revolution following promotion.
He said, after talking about his West Ham and Palace spells: “The rest is known. Nottingham Forest came, we spoke, an interesting project, marvellous fans. That’s why I came. We know what we want to do, and the rest will happen on its own.”
Since signing for Nottingham Forest, the defensive midfielder has made 13 appearances under Steve Cooper, scoring one goal in the 3-2 loss against Bournemouth back in September.
