Former West Ham midfielder Javier Mascherano has announced his retirement from professional football after nearly two decades in the game.
The 36-year-old earned 147 caps for Argentina and ended his playing career in his native country with Estudiantes de La Plata.
The combative Argentinian arrived in east London in 2006 alongside comaptriot Carlos Tevez in what turned out to be one of the most bizarre and controversial transfers in Premier League history.
Wanted by a host of European giants, the Argentine youngsters signed for the Hammers and enjoyed mixed fortunes as Irons players.
Mascherano left the club for Liverpool, where he forged a superb career before switching to Barcelona, having made just five Premier League appearances in as many months at Upton Park. By contrast, Tevez became an Irons hero with a glut of goals towards the end of the 2006/07 season as the club pulled off a final-day relegation escape.
While Mascherano had an abortive spell with the Hammers, he went on to have a glittering career and, in his “Farewell beautiful game” tweet announcing his playing retirement, he included an image from his time in east London.
Más de lo que alguna vez soñé !!
Me despido de este hermoso juego.More than I dreamed !!
Farewell beautiful game. pic.twitter.com/GG8850yU0b— Javier Mascherano (@Mascherano) November 16, 2020
READ WEST HAM VERDICT
Mascherano will forever provide a talking point as part of a double transfer swoop which shocked the world, albeit ultimately ending in near disaster with the Hammers paying compensation to Sheffield United and both players swiftly moving on.
Given what the pair went on to achieve in their respective careers in comparison to how they fared in east London, it’s safe to say then-manager Alan Pardew mightn’t have realised just how lucky he was to have had them.
Nonetheless, Mascherano’s time at West Ham was the first staging post of a successful career in Europe, while his nod to the Irons in his farewell tweet shows that he hasn’t forgotten as such.
