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The 27 year old admits the timing is slightly strange, with Sparta performing well in Eurpoe, but says that the lure of the Premier league was too much to resist, "It is maybe not the best time to leave Sparta Prague because they are still in the Champions' League but the offer was good and you don't get the chance to join a Premiership club every day - that is where I want to play.
"It is definitely my ambition to get back into Europe with West Ham because once you have played in European competition, you want to again."
Labant, a friend of Tomas Repka says he knows the West Ham players only by reputation, including such legends as Bobby Moore. "I know only Tomas Repka personally, but I have seen the others play - and I know a little bit about West Ham's past with Bobby Moore and so on," he said.
"Tomas told me it was a lovely club," he adds, "and he felt wanted from the first moment he came - he is pleased that I am coming, and says it is a family club. He said it is just like home and everyone has been nice to him."
Perhaps explaining how West Ham were able to get the player for such a low fee, believed to be around £1m, Vlado says that Sparta have a policy where a long-serving player can be sold if a good offer from abroad comes in.