Hammers bring in Shakhtar goalkeeper

West Ham have signed Czech goalkeeper Jan Lastuvka on a season-long loan from Shakhtar Donetsk, according to the Ukrainian club…

West Ham have signed Czech goalkeeper Jan Lastuvka on a season-long loan from Shakhtar Donetsk, according to the Ukrainian club.

Lastuvka, 26, successfully completed a medical over the weekend and will provide back-up to Hammers number one Robert Green.

The former under-21 international spent 2006-07 on loan at Fulham where he played 12 games for the Cottagers.

After returning to Shakhtar when new Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez refused to make his move permanent last summer, he enjoyed a successful year with Bochum in Germany's Bundesliga.

READ MORE

Meanwhile, the Hammers have decided to retire the number six shirt worn by former Upton Park and England great Bobby Moore.

Moore, who died in 1993, is one of the most celebrated names in English football, having lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in 1966 as captain of England's World Cup-winning team.

A ball-playing central defender, he was one of three West Ham players in Alf Ramsey's victorious England team, alongside striker Geoff Hurst and midfielder Martin Peters.

A statue of the three stands outside the club's stadium.

Moore, who was at West Ham from 1958-74, was the club's most successful captain, lifting the FA Cup in 1964 and European Cup Winners' Cup the following year.

He died from bowel cancer at the age of 51.

West Ham chief executive officer Scott Duxbury told the club's website: "When we were talking about ways to mark 50 years since Bobby Moore's debut, there was only one true gesture that would do him justice - retiring the number six shirt he made his own."

Moore made his first appearance for the club aged 17 against Manchester United in September 1958 and to mark the anniversary West Ham will play Spanish club Villarreal in a pre-season friendly on Saturday for the inaugural Bobby Moore Cup.