West Ham are known famously for their
academy and bringing through some of England's greatest footballing
talents in recent years such as Frank Lampard jnr, Joe Cole, Rio
Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Jermain Defoe and Glen Johnson. But this
reputation has been ruined by some appalling signings the club have
made in the past and there have been some real blunders.
1. Savio Nsereko
West Ham signed this unknown 19 year
old from Brescia in January 2009. There was huge expectation from the
West Ham fans after he was signed for £9 million and given the
number 10 shirt. The Ugandan born striker failed to impress after
only starting one game and not scoring at all at his time at the
Hammers. He was soon sold on to Fiorentina. His most recent club
SpVgg
Unterhaching but his contract was terminated after just three months.
The striker has recently faked his own kidnap and was arrested by
police.
2.
Kieron Dyer
The
Hammers signed the injury prone midfielder from Newcastle in August
2007 for £6 million. The midfielder made on only 30 appearances for
West Ham without scoring a goal in his four years at the club. It was
reported that he was the highest earner at the club, raking in
£83,000 a week. He was released at the end of the 10/11 season. He
is now at QPR where once again he has been affected by injury.
3.
Titi Camera
Harry
Redknapp signed the striker from Liverpool, after failing to impress
on Merseyside, in December 2000 for £1.5m fee which could have risen
to £2.6m. There's not too much to say about him while at West Ham,
he made only 14 appearances without scoring and left after his
contract was terminated following West Ham's relegation.
4.
Rigobert Song
Like
Titi Camera, Rigobert Song was signed from Liverpool after failing
for Liverpool. It was first said that he was brought in as a
replacement for Rio Ferdinand who had left for Leeds United in a £18
million deal. The defender played only 24 games for West Ham
in two years and left in 2002.
5.
Mark Boogers
Another
flop signing during the Redknapp era was this Dutch
striker. He was signed from Sparta Rotterdam for £1 million in 1995.
In his second appearance for the club he came on as a substitute and
was basically sent off straight away for a horrific tackle on Gary
Neville. He was the suspended for four games and after that played
only two more games for West Ham.
6.
Joseph Beauchamp
This
was a very strange one, West Ham signed him from his boyhood club
Oxford United for a big fee of £1 million. He was signed in 1994 and
lasted an embarrassing 58 days at the club as
he said he couldn't deal with the commute to training from Oxford. He
was then sold to Swindon Town for £800,000.
7.
Javier
Mascherano
I
think he has to be included in this despite him being a world class
footballer who now plays for Barcelona. The midfielder was signed in
a joint deal with Carlos Tevez and unlike Tevez he didn't make any
impact at the club. He made only 5 appearances before being moved
onto Liverpool. Due to dodgy third part dealings he ended up costing
the club £5.5 million pounds.
8.
Benni
McCarthy
McCarthy
was signed by West Ham for an undisclosed fee on deadline day of the
2010 January transfer window from Blackburn Rovers. In his debut he
picked up an injury that would keep him out for up to six weeks. He
came back extremely unfit and overweight and only went on to play
another 13 games for West Ham. In april 2011 West Ham paid him off
£1.5 million to terminate his contract.
9.
Florin Raducioiu
Another
bad signing by the so called 'wheeler dealer' Harry Redknapp. He was
signed for £2.6 million after scoring the only goal for Romania in
their Euro 96 campaign. His
time at Upton Park was overshadowed by arguments with Redknapp and he
lasted only one season at West Ham scoring three goals.
10.
Gary Charles
The
right back signed for West Ham in 1999 and was the club for three
years where he played only five times. West Ham was his final club
and he retired in 2002. While at West Ham he had a lot of off field
problems and was caught drink driving on many occasions. Since
leaving football he had been in trouble of the police and admitted
having a drinking problem.
