MANY West Ham fans must have woken up on Saturday morning and thought they had slept their way through to April Fools Day. After another poor performance coming off the bench against Hull City on Wednesday night, where he did at least have his first shot

MANY West Ham fans must have woken up on Saturday morning and thought they had slept their way through to April Fools Day.

After another poor performance coming off the bench against Hull City on Wednesday night, where he did at least have his first shot in many months, the Hammers faithful were praying that someone would take pity on Julien Faubert and take him off West Ham's hands.

No-one could believe that the French flop would be winging his way to Madrid to sign for Real though, but by Saturday lunchtime, the loan deal was incredibly signed and sealed.

It was the player himself who summed up the majority of the West Ham fans' feelings.

"I thought it was all a joke at first to be honest," he said. "It was only afterwards that I realised it was all true and that Real Madrid were interested -I am very happy."

So are the West Ham fans who have grown increasingly frustrated by the Frenchman's performances both on the wing and at right back, where his ability to pass only to the opposition and fail to deliver any telling crosses had seen him drop to the fringe of the team.

If Faubert impresses at the Bernab�u, and that must be a big if, then Real have an option to make the deal permanent in the summer.

That could mean the Hammers making a profit on the �6.1million winger, who badly injured his Achilles shortly after his arrival from Bordeaux in the summer of 2007.

The 25-year-old Frenchman made 32 appearances for the club, but failed to score a single goal.

With that sort of impressive form to compare to, perhaps Real boss Juande Ramos could be tempted by a big-money move for Luis Boa Morte.

Lightning never strikes twice in the same place though!