Don't panic! As the window draws shut not all January buys are worth their weight in goals. Think McCarthy, think Samba, think Carroll... think again?

They are the winter-window signings at inflated fees, players heralded as the saviour of a season.
Wages, too, are invariably bloated given the desperation of the buying club.
And, even though history tells us such frenzied investment rarely pays dividends, January still bears witness to all manner of panic buys.

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Rare success: Christophe Dugarry helped Birmingham stay in the Premier League in 2003, but his success has been the exception to the rule

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Big money: QPR spent £12m and £100,000-per-week wages on Christopher Samba but the club were still relegated last season

The next 24 hours or so should prove no different with supporters demanding outlay amid the hysteria of the brand which has become 'Deadline Day'.
Given the financial rewards of residence in the Premier League, pressure to purchase has been amplified still further in recent years for those clubs fighting to preserve their top-flight status.
But chairmen, managers and fans alike should take warning from the failings of others.
For while the inaugural January window back in 2003 did see Birmingham City commit to the sizeable wage packet of Christophe Dugarry and his goals subsequently ensured survival, the trend since has not proved so rewarding.

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Hardly prolific: Bobby Zamora has just six league goals in two years since QPR spent £6m on him

We only have to rewind 12 months and to Queens Park Rangers' reckless scramble for reinforcements as example of such waste. Chris Samba arrived from Anzhi Makhachkala at a cost of £12million with wages of £100,000 per week. The Congolese defender, however, was a disaster and Harry Redknapp's side were duly demoted.
Bobby Zamora had been a last-minute acquisition a year earlier when the R's paid £6m to bring him across town from Fulham. Two years on and a return of just six league goals counts each strike at a bank-busting £1m.
West Ham were another London club who tried in vain to avoid the drop in 2011. They made a sizeable commitment to the pay packets of Wayne Bridge, from Manchester City, and Robbie Keane from Spurs. But the Hammers won just three times from January onwards and exited the Premier League.

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Double signing: West Ham turned to Wayne Bridge (left) and Robbie Jeane to lift them out of trouble in 2011m but it didn't work as they won just three more games and were relegated

The Upton Park outfit have made a habit of losing their senses in the New Year. In 2009 striker Savio Nsereko arrived for a fee of £9m from Brescia, penning a four-and-a-half-year deal. He would go on to make just 10 league appearances and now plays his football in Kazakhstan.
Twelve months on and West Ham were at it again, Benni McCarthy a deadline-day signing from Blackburn Rovers for £2.5m. Just over a year later and with no goals to show for their investment, the club were forced to pay the South African £1.5m to terminate his contract, vice-chairman Karren Brady branding him a 'big, fat mistake'.
Brady refrained from labelling Mido as such but, like fellow deadline-day addition McCarthy, the Egyptian failed to find the back of the net at the Boleyn Ground and his time in East London was cut short at the end of the season.

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'Big, fat mistake': It's fair to say Benni McCarthy didn't have the best spell at West Ham

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Overpaid: Bolton spent £4m on Marvin Sordell but he was unable to convert his Championship form to the top flight

Bridge and Keane, meanwhile, also appear on the radar elsewhere when it comes to unsound January judgement.
Manchester City forked out £12m for Bridge in 2009 while Keane returned to Spurs from Liverpool for £12m later that same window. His second spell at White Hart Lane, however, produced just 11 league goals and his ill-fated loan move to West Ham soon followed.
Further north, both Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United have risked millions on survival only to finish in the bottom three.
It was in 2012 that the Trotters rushed through a £4m move for Watford's Marvin Sordell. He would make just three substitute appearances all season as Wanderers dropped in to the Championship, where they remain today.

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Fanfare: Luton Shelton arrived at Brammall Lane for £2m but Sheffield United have not been seen in the Premier League since they were relegated

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Huge outlay: Middlesbrough spent £12.7m to bring Afonso Alves to the Premier League, but he scored just 10 league goals in 18 months

Jamaican frontman Luton Shelton, meanwhile, arrived at Bramall Lane amid much fanfare in 2007 at a cost of £2m from Helsingborg. He was not sighted again until April and the Blades have not been seen in the Premier League since.
Middlesbrough, too, staked a massive £12.7m on Heerenveen's Alfonso Alves with hours to spare of the 2008 window. And, while they did extend their stay in the Premier League for one more season, the Teessiders soon dropped into the second tier with their record signing having contributed just four goals from 31 outings.
A nod, too, must go to Nigel Quashie. In successive years in 2005 and 2006 both Southampton and West Brom paid seven-figure sums for the midfielder only for their campaign to end in relegation. He is available this time around were anyone interested.
It appears, then, that for every success story such as Dugarry, there are countless examples of profligate purchase.

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Great expectations: Despite scoring a number of important goals, Fernando Torres hasn't lived up to his £50m price-tag

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Eye-watering: Liverpool paid £35m for Andy Carroll and sold him for half of that last summer

Chief among them, perhaps, is the eye-watering £35m Liverpool gifted to Newcastle United for Andy Carroll three years ago.
That, of course, was triggered by the £50m the Reds received from Chelsea for Fernando Torres; in hindsight, another piece of barmy business at extortionate cost.
So before you celebrate your club's latest deadline-day darling, think Mido, think McCarthy - think twice.