Football's craziest transfers: Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham United
GOALGOAL 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.
