WEST HAM ANNOUNCED THE SIGNING OF SHAUN NEWTON FROM WOLVES FOR £10,000 IN THE SAME WEEK THAT ARSENAL AND MANCHESTER UNITED GOT KNOCKED OUT OF THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.

I know there doesn’t appear to be much of a connection, but it became an issue when I received a few comments from colleagues and friends about West Ham’s ‘big’ signing.

The Newton deal was announced on Thursday and it wasn’t long before I was getting calls from people who thought it was somehow funny that West Ham could have bought a player for just £10,000. The first barbed comment I received was from an Arsenal fan, but it wasn’t long before I had wiped the smile from his face. Big bank accounts do not guarantee great signings and having told him I was working on a piece about Arsenal and Manchester United’s failings in Europe, I suggested we have look at whether his team had invested some of their millions wisely.

Exhibit one was Francis ‘fox in the box’ Jeffers, an £8m signing from Everton in 2001. He  was more ‘fish out of water’ over the next three years and left for Charlton for nearly £6m less than Arsenal had paid for him, having started only four Premiership matches for the Gunners.

A year before Jeffers was signed, Sylvain Wiltord went to Highbury after a £13m transfer from Bordeaux. He had the credentials and provided some goals, but was allowed to leave on a free transfer after his wage demands weren’t met. His hat-trick for Lyon against Werder Bremen last week in another Champions League tie would perhaps suggest it was a false economy on Arsenal’s behalf not to pay the man what he wanted.

Once I got going, the names flowed. Manuel Almunia wasn’t even the first choice goalkeeper at his previous club, Albacete, so what chance did he really have in the Premiership? Being an established Latvian international did not make Igor Stepanovs Champions League or even Premiership material, Oleg Luzhny was a great right-back for Dynamo Kiev but was bought when his pace was deserting him and even Arsenal fans are baffled by Arsene Wenger’s loyalty to wobbly defensive stand-in Pascal Cygan.

Having got Arsenal off my chest, I turned to the Manchester United fan who had offered me a fiver out of his pocket so West Ham could make another signing.

You don’t have to look much further than Juan Sebastian Veron, hardly a snip at £28.1m from Lazio in July 2001. He was sold for nearly 50% of that fee to Chelsea just two seasons later. Another midfielder, Eric Djemba-Djemba, signed for £3.5m from Nantes in 2003 but left for Aston Villa in January for £1.35m, while another 2003 signing, Kleberson (nearly £6m from Paranaense) is plotting his escape route back to Brazil as you read this.

Sir Alex Ferguson has never found a suitable successor to Peter Schmeichel in goal either. The long line of Ferguson fumblers includes Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi (£4.5m from Venezia and he made just four appearances), Andy Goram (aged about 108, made two appearances), Roy Carroll, Luke Steele (joined from Peterborough, now on loan at Coventry), Ricardo (one sub appearance in the Premiership) and Tim Howard.

The only keeper who made a decent fist of things for a short time was Fabien Barthez and West Ham fans will always love him for trying to hail a cab while Paolo Di Canio scored the winning goal in an FA Cup tie at Old Trafford in January 2001.

So, welcome Shaun and as for the fee? I’d say £10,000 is exceptionally good business.