West Ham United have agreed the permanent signing of highly-rated goalkeeper Stephen Henderson.

The 24-year-old stopper who has been on loan since March, has moved to Upton Park on a three-year contract after completing his move from Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee.

Henderson was among the substitutes as West Ham won promotion to the Barclays Premier League by beating Blackpool 2-1 in the npower Championship Play-Off final at Wembley.

“I’m chuffed to bits to get it wrapped up,” Henderson told West Ham TV. “I’m a very happy man today. It’s been absolutely brilliant since I joined and it obviously topped it off on Saturday with us getting to the Premier League. The lads have been brilliant with me and have made me feel welcome so I’m very happy.

“To be honest, I think Saturday was probably the poorest I’ve seen us play in a while! Blackpool had a few great chances to get their noses in the lead but at the end of the day we took our chances and Vaz has popped up at the end.

“It was a fantastic day. The support was a real buzz. It was absolutely brilliant. Considering the trouble I’ve had with Portsmouth and their relegation battle, I’m very lucky to be here and to be a Premier League goalkeeper, I hope.”

Henderson has been capped for Ireland all the way through the youth teams until U-21 level and looks to be a fantastic prospect and an excellent backup for our Number 1 Rob Green.

Hopefully we can follow this up with our star keeper Rob Green signing a new deal as he has been outstanding for us this campaign!