Max Kilman has been speaking to the media about a “difficult” pre-season ahead of tonight’s match against Crystal Palace in Tampa.

West Ham United announced the £40m capture of Max Kilman last month, new manager Julen Lopetegui was very keen on bringing the Englishman to East London have working with him at Wolves. Despite only being there a matter of months, the Spaniard really enjoyed working with Kilman.

Despite a slight overpayment, Kilman looks to be an excellent signing for West Ham as he has settled into the squad very quickly and is even a contender to become club captain already.

The full playing squad has now arrived in America with Jarrod Bowen and Alphonse Areola joining up with the squad on Friday. Temperatures have been sweltering in Tampa with the temperature consistently reaching at least 32 degrees, this has been challenging for Kilman and the other players.

“It is a different climate here and something we’ve been adjusting to but it’s quite good for pre-season as obviously the humidity helps with fitness and all that stuff so it’s all positive,” Kilman confirmed.

“Obviously the climate is the biggest factor. It’s much harder being here than in England, but as an athlete you have to adapt to any climate that you’re in and this is pre-season so it’s good to get more minutes in the legs and this makes it much harder. The plan is that, when we go back to England, we’ll be much fitter and ready for the start of the season.

“I’m still not used to it now. It’s been really difficult. We’ve had a lot of training sessions and it took a while to get used to it and I’m still not there now. I’m making sure I’ve got lots of sun cream on and making sure I’m staying hydrated and all that!

“The training sessions have definitely been intense but of course we’ve got lots of pressure and need to perform, so of course there’s going to be an increase in the intensity of training and the quality as we need to be ready for the start of the season.”

It hasn’t been all hard work for Kilman however, the official West Ham YouTube channel released a mini golf challenge where Danny Ings defeated Max Kilman and other West Ham players including Ward-Prowse, Cresswell, and former Hammers defender Anton Ferdinand. Kilman seems to have fit into the English group of lads in the team, but also seems to get on with the whole team judging from the training content that has been released.

“I feel settled and part of the group,” he confirmed. “This is a change for me, coming to a huge Club like West Ham, but everyone has been really welcoming and the players and the staff have made it really comforting coming in. Everyone has been really nice and really friendly, so I’m really happy to be here and am part of a good group. Seeing some top players coming back into that gives a big boost for us.”

“We’ve got a new manager and I’m new here as well. It obviously takes a bit of time, but we’ve been making progress, working really hard and been training really well as a team, so our cohesion is growing, and hopefully we can keep improving.”