Over time, West Ham United have wasted some huge cash on gamers who merely haven’t lived as much as the expectations they arrived on the membership with.

Nikola Vlasic is only one instance, becoming a member of the membership in a £32m deal together with add-ons, earlier than making simply 31 first-team appearances, finally departing the membership simply 12 months later for a payment within the area of £10m – leading to a £22m loss.

Felipe Anderson is one other participant who arrived with enormous expectations after his then club-record £42m transfer to the Premier League from Italian aspect Lazio.

While the Brazilian made extra of an impression than Vlasic, that includes in 73 video games, he nonetheless departed for a considerably decrease payment – returning to his former aspect throughout the summer time of 2020.

Each gamers had been undoubtedly an enormous waste of sources, costing the membership massively, however one participant was simply as poor throughout his time in East London however did nonetheless handle to recoup a big payment within the course of.

Andre Ayew’s time at West Ham

In the course of the summer time of 2016, West Ham moved to their new house within the London Stadium, with ambitions of turning into a drive to be reckoned with within the Premier League.

The transfer noticed added funding, with the hierarchy splashing a then club-record £20.5m on the signing of ahead Andre Ayew from Swansea Metropolis – eclipsing the £15m payment the membership paid for Andy Carroll.

Given his price ticket, there was undoubtedly hype across the Ghanaian’s transfer to the Hammers, however sadly for each events, the transfer was unsuccessful.

Ayew moved to the membership beneath former boss Slaven Bilic off the again of a marketing campaign which noticed the Hammers register a seventh positioned league end in 2015/16.

Nonetheless, the ahead solely lasted 18 months beneath the Croatian after failing to make an impression on the London Stadium.

He registered 12 objectives and 5 assists throughout his time on the membership, earlier than returning to the Swans in a £18m deal – with the membership solely dropping £2m over the course of his spell with the Hammers.

His profession has taken a pointy decline lately after departing West Ham, with the membership making the best determination in offloading him again in January 2018.

Andre Ayew’s profession after leaving West Ham

Swansea had been relegated the identical season after Ayew rejoined, along with his excessive wages needing to be shifted off the books, he joined Turkish aspect Fenerbache on mortgage for the 2018/19 marketing campaign.

He subsequently returned to the Swans forward of the 2019/20 season, having fun with a purple patch over the subsequent couple of seasons for Steve Cooper’s aspect, registering 31 league objectives as they twice narrowly prevented a return to England’s prime flight.

He rejected a number of new contracts with the Championship aspect, transferring to Qatar, earlier than lastly returning to the Premier League – reuniting with Cooper at Nottingham Forest for the second half of the league season in 2022/23.

Ayew solely made 13 appearances, totalling simply 307 minutes and subsequently being launched on the finish of the exact same season, becoming a member of French aspect Le Havre AC on a free switch final summer time.

Regardless of scoring six objectives in all competitions, it wasn’t sufficient to earn the Ghanaian a brand new contract, with the 34-year-old nonetheless with out a membership and remaining a free agent.

Given his speedy decline over the previous few years, West Ham made the best name in permitting Ayew to return to his former aspect, taking the hit on the payment they paid, while stopping them from an extra loss down the road.

He’s now coming to the tail finish of his skilled profession, probably nearing retirement after his failure to safe phrases with any aspect for the 2024/25 marketing campaign.