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

It may have struck fans as odd at the time that the arrival of the duo was greeted by a relatively low-key announcement. Instead of screaming newspaper headlines, the Hammers simply published a photograph showing Pardew with his arms around his two new signings. The club said in a short statement the deal was a “coup”, but it felt like they were attempting to obfuscate further details.

They even claimed “all other aspects of the transfers will remain confidential and undisclosed”, apart from the contract lengths and the fact that the players had signed on the dotted line. The Irons did claim, however, to have beaten several top European sides to Tevez and Mascherano's signatures.

This is where the involvement of Kia Joorabchian comes into focus. The agent ran Media Sports Investments (MSI), a company that invested in the rights of players, until just two months before Tevez and Mascherano moved to London. He retained an investment in the players – as reported by the BBC at the time – but confusion reigned over how West Ham had managed to procure them.

Joorabchian had claimed just months earlier that Tevez would cost “between £69 million and £83m”, because of a release clause in his Corinthians contract. West Ham paid a lot less than that for him and his team-mate, with some reporting suggesting the combined fee was under £20m. Something, clearly, wasn’t adding up.

Given that the Hammers endured a horrendous start to the campaign, there were genuine fears of relegation in east London. While they opened their season with a win and a draw in the Premier League, a run of just three wins from 16 games plunged them into dire trouble at the bottom end of the table.

After a November takeover by Eggert Magnusson, who bought the club for £85m, Pardew was sacked a month later, and replaced by Alan Curbishley. In the process of the takeover, the new board declared that Tevez and Mascherano had been secured via third-party contracts, leading to an investigation being opened by the Premier League. A points deduction was subsequently possible and would all but have confirmed the Hammers’ relegation.

In the meantime, Mascherano was struggling to make an impression. In total for the Hammers, he played just five Premier League games, and all were defeats. He completed 90 minutes once, in a 2-0 loss to a pre-takeover Manchester City, and after a seven-minute cameo against Everton in December, he was never seen in a matchday squad for the club again. In January, he signed for Liverpool, initially on loan.

Tevez had an altogether different experience, although only just. He did not score at all in 2006, with his first goal for the club coming in a breathless 4-3 defeat to Tottenham in March 2007.

That, though, was the spark. Tevez went on to score six goals in West Ham’s final nine games of the campaign, of which they only lost two, and he even netted the winner on the final day against champions Manchester United. The Hammers, amazingly, had survived.

There were, however, already rumblings that Tevez's goals may not be enough to keep West Ham in the top-flight. First, the Premier League concluded their investigation into the double-deal, and meted out a record fine of £5.5m after the Hammers pleaded guilty to breaching transfer rules.

The players, when they were signed, were each contracted to offshore companies, a fact the club attempted to conceal, and which only came to light when Mascherano moved to Liverpool. However, the fact that their takeover had been completed likely saved them from a much harsher punishment; Magnusson and his fellow members of the board complied with the investigation and, crucially, admitted their guilt.

Nevertheless, Sheffield United launched an unprecedented legal action against the Hammers, arguing that they would have stayed in the Premier League had Tevez not been signed. The two teams were separated by three points at the end of the season, as Curbishley’s side finished 15th and the Blades went down in 18th. A settlement was eventually agreed, as West Ham agreed to pay up to £20m to the Yorkshire club.

Perhaps as a result of the optics of keeping him, new Hammers hero Tevez would not stay in east London. While Mascherano had already flown the nest for Anfield, there were multiple complications with the striker moving to Manchester United.

MSI had to pay West Ham £2m for the player to be released from his contract and Tevez moved on a two-year loan to Old Trafford with an obligation for United to buy him, a deal that was much rarer in the mid-2000s compared to now.

Eventually, United paid £32m, then a British transfer record, to keep Tevez after he helped the Red Devils win the Premier League and the Champions League. Of course, he would eventually depart Old Trafford too, as he headed across Manchester to join City.

Mascherano, meanwhile, made himself a mainstay at Liverpool, making 139 appearances, after the Reds signed him permanently for £18m in 2008, before eventually moving to Barcelona.

Tevez may well have gone through severe adversity during his first months at West Ham, but he stepped up when it mattered for a club that was flirting with the ruinous prospect of relegation. It should not be forgotten that many felt the Hammers’ squad at the time was far too good to be in that precarious of a position, and it is down to Tevez that they survived.

That is also why Sheffield United were so bitterly disappointed to go down, having abided by the Premier League’s rules throughout. To Irons fans, though, Tevez is a legend.

Mascherano, by comparison, is a player who has gone on to win the Champions League twice, as well as five La Liga trophies with Barcelona, yet he couldn’t get a game over Hayden Mullins! It is a bizarre thought; he spent just six months at Upton Park, but it could be argued that he would not have ended up at Liverpool without the acrimonious transfer. West Ham introduced the wider footballing world to the midfielder, they just completely failed to take advantage of how good he was.

One out of two isn’t bad, but one has to think West Ham would have enjoyed a much calmer season had they realised each player’s potential, instead of just Tevez’s.