The Ecuador striker has come a long way since the days he milked cows to pay for his first football boots – and he is relishing life in the Premier League

So, Enner Valencia, what did you know about West Ham United before you joined them in the summer? Was it how they were responsible for making England world champions in 1966? Perhaps you watched the Premier League when you were a boy and found yourself captivated by the skill of Paolo Di Canio? Maybe that they were the last team from outside the top division to win the FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1-0 in 1980?

No. No. No. None of the above. “I knew about West Ham mainly from watching films,” he says. “And I know the supporters were very passionate.” The Ecuador striker is sitting in the Reservation Centre West Ham have opened in Westfield to launch Club London, their new corporate hospitality programme for when they move into the Olympic Stadium in 2016. The surroundings are swish, Sir Trevor Brooking is present and Karren Brady, the club’s vice-chairman, has just given a presentation in which she talked about how the stadium will change West Ham’s fortunes and turn them into a top-six club. It is a bold claim but on a grey afternoon in London they are determined to ignore the detractors and look towards a brighter future.

In that context, they could have done without an apparently off-message Valencia grinning enthusiastically and confirming the film he was thinking of was indeed Green Street, the 2005 Elijah Wood classic about the tale of an American student who visits London, goes to West Ham with a man whose atrocious cockney accent rivals Dick van Dyke’s and becomes a football hooligan. As far as we know, it is not based on a true story but West Ham would understandably rather not be associated with a film that glorifies hooliganism.

Still, it seems it was a useful promotional video for Valencia. “I was not scared,” he says. “I respected the fact they are very passionate supporters and when I found out I was coming here I didn’t know what to expect. As soon as I arrived I was told that was all back in the day, in the old days, and it has all changed now.”

Anyway Valencia experienced worse in Ecuador. When he was playing for Emelec in 2012, they lost a crucial match against their fiercest rivals, Barcelona, which led to unrest in the stadium.

“It was a derby, the clásico, and our main rivals were top of the league,” he says. “We had to beat them in order to move on to the same points and we couldn’t get the win. It was very difficult to get everyone out of the stadium.

“In South America if you lose a match you can’t even go out in the street. Here after we lost the opening game people stayed in the stadium and showed their support. That’s something I really liked.”

Valencia means West Ham’s last-minute defeat against Tottenham Hotspur in their opening match and it is clear he is settling well in England. Although he has to speak through an interpreter, he is having English lessons every day.

“The culture is very different,” he says. “The main thing for me now is the language barrier but I am improving my English and the fact people here are very respectful is something that is very good. It’s mainly just the language barrier. I study English on a daily basis and I am trying to improve. I am trying to enjoy every minute of being here. I’ve got an English teacher.”

Valencia has a come a long way since the days when he milked cows in order to pay for his first pair of football boots. “It’s true that I come from a very poor background,” he says. “In order to buy my first boots I had to go and work with my dad on the farm milking cows. I had to sell the milk and stuff in order to afford my first boots.”

He first came to the attention of English supporters when he scored against England in a warm-up friendly in Miami before the World Cup and he was then Ecuador’s top scorer in Brazil, scoring three times despite their failure to qualify from their group, and his performances convinced West Ham to buy him for £12m from Pachuca.

The jump from the Mexican league to English football was a big one and Valencia was not up to speed when he arrived. Sam Allardyce restricted him to a couple of cameos in the league, before giving him his first start against Sheffield United in the first round of the Capital One Cup. The tie went to a penalty shootout, Valencia’s effort was saved and West Ham crashed out.

It was an inauspicious way to introduce himself but the turning point came when Valencia scored his first goal for West Ham with a thunderous drive from 25 yards in last week’s 2-2 draw with Hull City, which was followed by Saturday’s stunning 3-1 victory over Liverpool at Upton Park. on Sunday West Ham visit Manchester United and Valencia will relish taking on their defence.

“It was exactly what I was expecting and it is what I like about the Premier League – anyone can beat anyone,” he says. “That is what makes it such an interesting league. I was expecting to be able to beat the top teams.”

He was right about that but thankfully not everything in England has turned out as Valencia expected.