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West Ham and transfer deadline day have not seen eye-to-eye over the years and there have been some pretty diabolical deals along the way.

With the transfer window coming to a close, clubs start to panic and turn their attention to cheap deals or loans in a desperate attempt to appease the fans, which more often than not backfires.

The Hammers have been a victim of panic buying players to add numbers to the squad and east London has greeted some awful talent.

Manuel Pellegrini, with the assistance of Director of Football Mario Husillos, has guided West Ham away from signing deadwood and hopefully, the days of signing players to make up the numbers are gone.

Let’s take a look at the five worst deadline day deals the Irons have made in recent times…

Benni McCarthy – January 2010 

McCarthy was signed from Blackburn Rovers in the winter transfer window in the hope of adding much-needed firepower at Upton Park.

However, he picked up an injury on his debut, which kept him sidelined for six weeks. His return was remarkable, but for all the wrong reasons.

Heavily overweight and out of shape, he failed to score throughout his time in east London.

Javier Mascherano – August 2006

Only at West Ham could a West Ham flop go onto be a world-class player at Barcelona.

Mascherano signed in controversial circumstances alongside fellow Argentine Carlos Tevez in 2007 and never made a meaningful impact at Upton Park.

Both Alan Pardew and Alan Curbishley preferred to adopt Hayden Mullins in midfield and Mascherano shortly moved to Liverpool, where he eventually made a name for himself.

Jordan Hugill – January 2018

The 27-year-old was the definition of a panic buy during David Moyes’ stint as West Ham boss.

Hugill signed for the Hammers from Preston North End in January 2018 for £10million and was brought to the club at a time where they were desperate for a centre-forward.

The England striker made three very brief Premier League appearances amounting to 22 minutes of action.

His famous video of his excitement to ‘walk out with the bubbles’ never happened and that is the saddest part of this transfer.

Emmanuel Emenike – January 2016 

The Nigeria forward played his part in the send-off season at Upton Park but was certainly not part of the leading cast. Emenike was brought to east London in January as the Hammers attempted to add squad depth to bolster their chances of a top-seven finish.

He failed to score in 13 Premier League games but did score twice in an FA Cup clash with Blackburn Rovers. 508 minutes of league action with a goal, though, and Emenike was not the brightest of transfers to make on deadline day.

Alvaro Arbeloa – August 2016

Arbeloa arrived in east London as a World Cup winner but failed to win the hearts of the Hammers faithful. The right-back was signed the first summer at London Stadium and, like the ground, was an extreme disappointment.

He made just four appearances in claret and blue and shortly announced his retirement from football after playing for the Hammers.

I guess that’s what playing for West Ham does to you, right?