The South American connection with West Ham is a recent phenomenon in the history of West Ham with the first South American only joining us in 1998. When Mauro Zarate joined us recently he became the 15th South American to sign for us. Over three parts I will look back at the success of our South American experiment and what the future holds next season with three more South Americans linked with us in recent weeks.
Chile defender Javier Margas became the first South American import after he signed for the Hammers after impressing for Chile at the France 1998 World Cup, Margas signed from Colo Colo to plug a hole in the centre of defence left by the departing David Unsworth. Javier made just three appearances in his first season. A 0-0 draw against Coventry, coupled with defeats against Wimbledon and Leeds. Added to that, Margas’ appearances were limited due to going AWOL. Javier was homesick and went missing. With nobody knowing his whereabouts for approximately five weeks he was eventually tracked back to his homeland of Chile.
Our second South American joined six years later in 2004 but fared no better, Argentine defender Maurico Taricco joined on a free transfer from Spurs but made just one appearance against Millwall in November 2004 two days after signing. He lasted just 27 minutes before he torn his hamstring and was replaced by Anton Ferdinand in a game we eventually lost one nil to our fierce rivals. Later that month he offered to have his contract with the club cancelled, which West Ham accepted, marking Taricco’s retirement from professional football. At the time Hammers Manager Alan Pardew commented that it was one of the most honest things he had ever known a footballer to do.
He is now assistant manager of Sunderland after doing the same job for Brighton and Hove Ablion.
The third South American hammer was Argentine full back Lionel Scaloni who signed on the 31st Januray 2006. Scaloni joined West Ham United on loan on the final day of the transfer window, in an attempt to heighten his options to attend the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Germany. He took the No. 2 shirt from the departed Tomáš Repka, and made his league debut for the Hammers against Sunderland. He managed just 13 appearances including the FA cup final. Some fans blame him for the loss of the cup final.
During the final West Ham sportingly put the ball out to allow the injured Liverpool forward Cissé to be treated, and, in accordance with accepted protocol Liverpool’s throw-in returned the ball to West Ham deep in their defensive end. In a moment which haunts Hammers fans, the Argentinian right back, punted an aimless looking ball into midfield instead of Row Z. Steven Gerrard went on to score and the rest as they say is history.
Possibly one of the most high profile South America signing, the most successful and yet the most disastrous were our fourth and fifth South American signings.
When Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano both 22 at the time joined West Ham from Brazilian side Corinthians none of us could believe it. We appeared to have beaten Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United to the pair’s signature and it was a sign West Ham were going places.
Mascherano rarely featured in the team, despite their struggles, prompting rumours about financial clauses related to the amount of time he was actually played. In October 2006, the Argentina national coach at the time, Alfio Basile, declared that he hoped Mascherano would leave West Ham “as soon as possible”
In 2007, Liverpool requested clearance from FIFA to take Mascherano on loan from West Ham. FIFA’s rules state that no player can play for more than two different clubs between 1 July and 30 June the following year as Mascherano had already played for both Corinthians and West Ham during this time.
FIFA approved the deal on 31 January 2007.However, however when Liverpool submitted his registration details before the midnight transfer deadline, the Premier League did not immediately announce whether it would allow Mascherano to play for Liverpool, saying that it wanted to “take time to satisfy itself with the proposed arrangements”. In a further development, it was announced in March 2006 that the Premier League were charging West Ham with breaking rule B13, concerning acting in good faith, and rule U18, which concerns the influence of third-party ownership. On 27 April the Premier League issued West Ham a world-record fine of £5.5 million. Mascherano made just five appearances for West Ham scoring no goals.
Carlos Tevez is our most successful South American import but the player would eventually cost us tens of millions in fines and court cases.
On 5th July, it was reported that Tevez had agreed to join Manchester United in a deal worth £20 million, which was subject to an appeal from West Ham; West Ham said in turn that they would block any transfer unless they received a majority of the transfer fee. The next day, West Ham released a statement that Tevez was under contract until June 2010, in addition to denying having held negotiations with any other club. Joorabchian contradicted the claim by saying that West Ham had indeed given permission to United to engage in talks.
Manchester United and West Ham sought FIFA’s assistance to rule on Tevez’s ownership, but on 24th July, FIFA suggested that the case be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Joorabchian intervened by issuing West Ham with a High Court writ to compel West Ham to release the registration of Carlos Tévez in accordance with contracts entered into between the parties.However, the case never made it to court as the Premier League approved an agreement between West Ham and MSI, in which MSI would pay £2 million to West Ham, who in turn released Tevez from his contract.
West Ham and Sheffield United finally reached an out of court settlement with West Ham agreeing to pay Sheffield United £20m over 5 years in compensation.
In the next two parts I move on to the post Tevez era to cover nine more South American players to have worn the West Ham shirt with varying success.