He’s now unemployed: West Ham struck gold selling Bilic signing for £18m

September 18, 2024 isaac tough SPORTS 0

Over the years, West Ham United have wasted a lot of money on players who simply haven’t lived up to the expectations they arrived at the club with.

Nikola Vlasic is just one example, joining the club in a £32m deal including add-ons, before making just 31 first-team appearances, eventually departing the club just 12 months later for a fee in the region of £10m – resulting in a £22m loss.

Felipe Anderson is another player who arrived with huge expectations after his then club-record £42m move to the Premier League from Italian side Lazio.

Whilst the Brazilian made more of an impact than Vlasic, featuring in 73 games, he still departed for a significantly lower fee – returning to his former side during the summer of 2020.

Both players were undoubtedly a huge waste of resources, costing the club massively, but one player was just as poor during his time in East London but did still manage to recoup a significant fee in the process.

Andre Ayew’s time at West Ham

During the summer of 2016, West Ham moved to their new home in the London Stadium, with ambitions of becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League.

The move saw added investment, with the hierarchy splashing a then club-record £20.5m on the signing of forward Andre Ayew from Swansea City – eclipsing the £15m fee the club paid for Andy Carroll.

Given his price tag, there was undoubtedly hype around the Ghanaian’s move to the Hammers, but unfortunately for both parties, the move was unsuccessful.

Ayew moved to the club under former boss Slaven Bilic off the back of a campaign which saw the Hammers register a seventh placed league finish in 2015/16.

However, the forward only lasted 18 months under the Croatian after failing to make an impact at the London Stadium.

He registered 12 goals and five assists during his time at the club, before returning to the Swans in a £18m deal – with the club only losing £2m over the course of his spell with the Hammers.

His career has taken a sharp decline in recent years after departing West Ham, with the club making the right decision in offloading him back in January 2018.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*