If West Ham didn’t already have enough to deal with at present given that they’re ensconced in a relegation battle in the Premier League, it now appears that they’re using the war in Ukraine as a deflection technique to not pay monies owed for transfer fees.
Though it isn’t something to necessarily trouble David Moyes and his players, if the club come under more scrutiny, it’s something that may well filter into their domain given that reporters are likely to ask searching questions.
Speaking on The West Ham Way podcast, the contributor identified as ExWHU Employee spilled the beans on the £7.8m that’s still owed for Alex Kral and Nikola Vlasic, both of whom hardly covered themselves in glory whilst at the London Stadium.
“West Ham apparently owe a collective amount of £7.8m to the Russian authorities over unpaid transfer fees,” he said.
“So the first one is for Alex Kral’s loan move from Spartak Moscow, apparently, we still owe £4.38m for that. And that we still owe CFK Moscow £3.5m for Vlasic.
“Now, West Ham are arguing that you’re not allowed to send money to Russia, obviously as a result of the Russia-Ukrainian war.
“But the Russian authorities are saying they’re owed that money, and there’s even talk that they’re applying for us to have a transfer ban as a result of not paying these figures.
“I mean, the figure is so small that I’m sure if that ever became a realistic penalty, then then we would just pay it. But we’re still disputing this.”
Given that owner David Sullivan is reported to be worth in the region of £1.2bn according to The Sun, the amount outstanding is small change.
It does beg the question as to why the money just isn’t paid in full, though perhaps such a stalling tactic could be something to do with whether Sullivan actually intends to sell the club or not.
Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire, is keen to become the majority shareholder of the club according to Football Insider, and purchase the shares that David Gold, who sadly passed away earlier this year, owned.
There doesn’t seem to be any other logical explanation as to why the funds remain outstanding.