Question: What is more annoying than spending £6m on a new midfielder, only for him to miss the first half of the season with a ruptured achilles tendon?

Answer: Spending £6.1m on a new midfielder, as West Ham did on Julien Faubert, only for him to miss the first half of the season with a ruptured achilles tendon.

Faubert, who was viewed by many as a replacement for Israeli Yossi Benayoun, picked up the injury in a friendly against Czech side Sigma Olomouc.  George Cooper, West Ham’s head physiotherapist, revealed the injury had come “completely out of the blue”:

Julien has no history of any achilles problems and this kind of rupture is usually predisposed by past steroid injections in the area - something he has never had - so it is a major shock.

“A major shock”?  Really?  West Ham ought to be getting used to this kind of thing by now.  Signing for them is essentially a cast iron guarantee that you will get injured.  I’d suspect any player declaring an interest in joining West Ham is looking to cash in big time on their health insurance.

Take for example, Lucas Neil - signed for £1.5m, then out for a month with an ankle problem within days of finalising his contract.  Or Nigel Quashie, picked up for the same fee and missing since March with a foot injury.

And who can forget la pièce de résistance: the £6m January outlay on Matthew Upson, who has since amassed a spectacular 41 minutes playing time for the club.

Latest signings Richard Wright, Scott Parker, and Craig Bellamy should beware - it’s surely only a matter of time until it’s their turn…