Despite the unpredictability that came with signing players from abroad, Redknapp remained undeterred and splashed out £2.4m on Romanian striker Florin Raducioiu in July 1996. The 26-year-old had just featured for his country at Euro 96 and netted their only goal of the tournament against Spain, but after two years in La Liga with Espanyol, he was ready to test himself in the Premier League. At the time, £2.4m was a sizeable fee for a player unproven in English football and the risk never paid off for both Redknapp or Raducioiu. He scored just twice in 11 league appearances for the Hammers before rejoining Espanyol for three quarters of the price that West Ham had paid for him. Radacioiu would still go on to spend time at a number of well-respected clubs around Europe such as Stuttgart and AS Monaco, but outside of Romania, he is rarely associated with playing for those two sides and winning league titles with Dinamo Bucuresti and AC Milan. It is his disappointing period with West Ham that is often best remembered.
A degree-educated, dart-throwing, non-smelling sports journalist based in a small Staffordshire town that has just become Floyd Mayweather's answer to the question: "What's the strangest place you have ever visited?"
