West Ham United have not always had the best of luck when it comes to the transfer market.
Sure, they’ve made some stellar signings over the years, like Jarrod Bowen, but they’ve also made their fair share of terrible additions to the team.
One man who certainly didn’t help the club in this regard is former technical director Tim Steidten, who oversaw the signing of a handful of poor players and fell out with David Moyes.
In fact, one of his worst purchases could even be described as being the club’s most significant waste of money since Gianluca Scamacca and Sébastien Haller.
Scamacca & Haller's West Ham careers
While there have been plenty of terrible West Ham signings over the years, two recent ones that tend to stick out in most fans’ minds are Scamacca and Haller.
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The former joined the club from Serie A side Sassuolo for around £30.5m in the summer of 2022, and did so off the back of a brilliant season in Italy, in which he scored 16 goals and provided one assist in 38 games.
It was safe to say that there was a level of expectation that he’d be able to hit the ground running in East London, but unfortunately, that could not have been further from what actually happened.
In all, the Italian only lasted a season, scoring a paltry eight goals in 27 appearances before returning to Italy amid claims he was homesick.
What made the whole move even more of a “disappointment,” per The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas, is that even his eight goals were underwhelming, with just two in the Premier League.
It was a situation that felt all too familiar to Haller’s time at the club just a couple of years earlier.
The Ivorian international joined the Irons for a club record fee of £45m in the summer of 2019, and off the back of a season in which he scored 20 goals and provided 12 assists in 41 games for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Appearances
35
19
Minutes
2476′
1205′
Goals
7
7
Assists
2
0
Goal Involvements per Match
0.25
0.36
Minutes per Goal Involvement
275.11′
172.14′
Unfortunately, he too lost his shooting boots upon his arrival in East London, and over the next season and a half, he scored just 14 goals and provided two assists in 54 games, which isn’t anywhere near good enough for a record signing.
The bad news keeps on coming for West Ham, though, as while they were able to get rid of both strikers, they now have another player in the squad who has arguably been the biggest waste of money for the club since both of them.
West Ham's biggest waste of money since Scamacca and Haller
Unfortunately for West Ham, there are probably a few players who could fit this description, but as things stand, it is hard to look past Max Kilman.
The former Wolverhampton Wanderers star joined the club for a massive £40m last summer.
Now, there have been glimpses of quality here and there since then, but that is all there has been, and for such an expensive signing, that simply isn’t good enough.
Moreover, while the decent performances have been few and far between, the worrying ones have been far more regular, and seemingly only more so over the last couple of months.
For example, one content creator labelled his performance against Brentford as “shocking,” and former manager Gary O’Neil explained his most significant problem is that he likes to “switch off” during games.
It’s a criticism that’s easy to believe, as he looked utterly lost for the Bees’ opening goal, and didn’t get any better as the game went on.
Moreover, his statistics from the following game away to Leeds United do not make for pretty reading either.
Minutes
94′
Tackles
0
Interceptions
0
Clearances
4
Ground Duels (Won)
2 (0)
Fouls
2
Accurate Passes
61/69 (88%)
Long Balls (Accurate)
2/6 (33%)
Lost Possession
8
In his 94 minutes on the pitch, the Englishman didn’t win a single tackle, nor make an interception, he lost 100% of his ground duels, gave away two fouls, was accurate in just 33% of his long balls, lost the ball eight times and completed just 88% of passes.
Ultimately, there are a lot of problems at West Ham at the moment, and while it’s harsh to single out players, Kilman is one of the big ones.