GOAL takes a look at the craziest transfers in football history, beginning with West Ham United's signing of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.
When Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano signed for West Ham in August 2006, it felt like a brave new dawn for the Hammers. Under the management of Alan Pardew, the east Londoners had convinced two of Argentina’s most promising talents to head to England; not to a top-four club, but to a side that had finished ninth in the Premier League the season prior.
Tevez had impressed at the 2006 World Cup and was briefly linked with a move to Chelsea, while interest from Arsenal and Manchester United was also rumoured. That he and Mascherano, a midfielder who would go on to play for the likes of Liverpool and Barcelona, were being photographed holding up the claret and blue shirts at Upton Park felt otherworldly.
There were plenty of eyebrows raised when the pair, who were both 22, arrived from Corinthians for undisclosed fees, with West Ham seemingly attempting to keep the minute details of the deal under wraps. Given what transpired thereafter, it has to go down as one of football's craziest ever transfers.
Getty ImagesThe deal
It may have struck fans as odd at the time that the arrival of the duo was greeted by a relatively low-key announcement. Instead of screaming newspaper headlines, the Hammers simply published a photograph showing Pardew with his arms around his two new signings. The club said in a short statement the deal was a “coup”, but it felt like they were attempting to obfuscate further details.
They even claimed “all other aspects of the transfers will remain confidential and undisclosed”, apart from the contract lengths and the fact that the players had signed on the dotted line. The Irons did claim, however, to have beaten several top European sides to Tevez and Mascherano's signatures.
This is where the involvement of Kia Joorabchian comes into focus. The agent ran Media Sports Investments (MSI), a company that invested in the rights of players, until just two months before Tevez and Mascherano moved to London. He retained an investment in the players – as reported by the at the time – but confusion reigned over how West Ham had managed to procure them.
Joorabchian had claimed just months earlier that Tevez would cost “between £69 million and £83m”, because of a release clause in his Corinthians contract. West Ham paid a lot less than that for him and his team-mate, with some reporting suggesting the combined fee was under £20m. Something, clearly, wasn’t adding up.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesThe performances
Given that the Hammers endured a horrendous start to the campaign, there were genuine fears of relegation in east London. While they opened their season with a win and a draw in the Premier League, a run of just three wins from 16 games plunged them into dire trouble at the bottom end of the table.
After a November takeover by Eggert Magnusson, who bought the club for £85m, Pardew was sacked a month later, and replaced by Alan Curbishley. In the process of the takeover, the new board declared that Tevez and Mascherano had been secured via third-party contracts, leading to an investigation being opened by the Premier League. A points deduction was subsequently possible and would all but have confirmed the Hammers’ relegation.
In the meantime, Mascherano was struggling to make an impression. In total for the Hammers, he played just five Premier League games, and all were defeats. He completed 90 minutes once, in a 2-0 loss to a pre-takeover Manchester City, and after a seven-minute cameo against Everton in December, he was never seen in a matchday squad for the club again. In January, he signed for Liverpool, initially on loan.
Tevez had an altogether different experience, although only just. He did not score at all in 2006, with his first goal for the club coming in a breathless 4-3 defeat to Tottenham in March 2007.
That, though, was the spark. Tevez went on to score six goals in West Ham’s final nine games of the campaign, of which they only lost two, and he even netted the winner on the final day against champions Manchester United. The Hammers, amazingly, had survived.
AFPThe acrimony
There were, however, already rumblings that Tevez's goals may not be enough to keep West Ham in the top-flight. First, the Premier League concluded their investigation into the double-deal, and meted out a record fine of £5.5m after the Hammers pleaded guilty to breaching transfer rules.
The players, when they were signed, were each contracted to offshore companies, a fact the club attempted to conceal, and which only came to light when Mascherano moved to Liverpool. However, the fact that their takeover had been completed likely saved them from a much harsher punishment; Magnusson and his fellow members of the board complied with the investigation and, crucially, admitted their guilt.
Nevertheless, Sheffield United launched an unprecedented legal action against the Hammers, arguing that they would have stayed in the Premier League had Tevez not been signed. The two teams were separated by three points at the end of the season, as Curbishley’s side finished 15th and the Blades went down in 18th. A settlement was eventually agreed, as West Ham agreed to pay up to £20m to the Yorkshire club.
Moving on
Perhaps as a result of the optics of keeping him, new Hammers hero Tevez would not stay in east London. While Mascherano had already flown the nest for Anfield, there were multiple complications with the striker moving to Manchester United.
MSI had to pay West Ham £2m for the player to be released from his contract and Tevez moved on a two-year loan to Old Trafford with an obligation for United to buy him, a deal that was much rarer in the mid-2000s compared to now.
Eventually, United paid £32m, then a British transfer record, to keep Tevez after he helped the Red Devils win the Premier League and the Champions League. Of course, he would eventually depart Old Trafford too, as he headed across Manchester to join City.
Mascherano, meanwhile, made himself a mainstay at Liverpool, making 139 appearances, after the Reds signed him permanently for £18m in 2008, before eventually moving to Barcelona.
