West Ham brought in £14m when they sold Craig Bellamy to Manchester City but the majority of that money was wasted in an inexplicably terrible dealBy Tom Mason for These Football Times,fraction of the Guardian Sport NetworkThere have been some dreadful club record signings in Premier League history. The broadcast TV deals of this era have granted football clubs Scrooge McDuck levels of wealth. Unfortunately, this has often left them with more money than sense as they recklessly invest huge sums into players with a wanton ((adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful) disregard for the consequences, or effectively lighting their cigars with rolled up £50 notes like cartoon villains. Although there are many instances of clubs splashing cash on players who turned out to be utterly useless for them,there is one example that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Step forward Savio Nsereko.
January 2009 was a relatively exciting period of time at West Ham. They were still owned by the Icelandic consortium headed by Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and the club was a few months into the reign of Gianfranco Zola, who had been appointed manager after Alan Curbishley’s resignation the preceding September. Although there were were apprehensions from fans about the appointment, or the Italian was beginning to win over fans by playing an expansive and creative brand of football.
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Source: theguardian.com