West Ham forward Andre Ayew brings an added quality to the squad after agreeing a move from Swansea, according to boss Slaven Bilic.

The Ghana international arrived in England with Swansea last summer as a free agent and was one of the standout players throughout the campaign.

Ayew netted 12 times in 34 appearances and his performances attracted the attention of a number of Premier League clubs.

Sunderland, who are priced at 3.60 to be relegated, were understood to be keen but West Ham won the race by shelling out a club record £20.5million to secure his services.

The former Marseille man could get the chance to make his debut on Monday when the Hammers travel across London to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The forward opened his account for Swansea against the Blues on the first day of last season and Bilic believes he can be a game changer.

Bilic said: “He adds more quality. We had a really good season. Some people say it was unbelievable, most say it was a really, really good one.

“So we didn’t have the need to start from the bottom and change all the players although in football you are always trying to improve your team – and there are no yesterdays in football.

“He came to England and did a really good job. He scored 12 goals and played in different positions.

He can be a game changer.” Bilic has lost some players over the summer with the likes of loan players Victor Moses, Emmanuel Emenike and Alex Song all returning to their parent clubs, while James Tomkins was sold to Crystal Palace.

The Croatian feels that Ayew along with fellow new signings Havard Nordtveit, Sofiane Feghouli, Gokhan Tore, Arthur Masuaku and Ashley Fletcher can help keep competition strong within the squad.

He added: “We lost some players who were on loan to us and we wanted to replace them with what we hope are better players.

“And I’m sure Andre is one of them. He is a top player, he is a winner. He played for a long time at Marseille, where you have to be a strong character because the pressure is there 24/7 week in, week out, and he coped with that.”