West Brom have reached out to determine when the club’s £5million loan will be repaid – with players currently needing to be sold to keep the club operational leaving Carlos Corberan in another possible transfer dilemma.
According to iNews (29 September), managing director Mark Miles approached West Bromwich Albion Group, the club’s parent company, to determine if Hong Kong-based company Wisdom Smart, owned by Guochuan Lai, will repay their debt to the Baggies.
The loan was given by West Brom two years ago to help Lai’s other business ventures during the pandemic, but it is still yet to be paid back to the club.
The loan was effectively written off in the club’s latest by the club’s auditors in the latest accounts, although a statement from West Brom insisted that “Lai has repeated his assurance to the club that the loan and accrued interest will be repaid”.
It is believed that Lai has missed several self-appointed deadlines to repay the loan which could in turn become useful for West Brom’s finances in regards to player recruitment and the need to improve the club’s fortunes on and off the pitch.
After huge pressure from fan groups – including campaign group Action For Albion and Shareholders For Albion (S4A), a group of around 400 fans who own the remaining 12 per cent of West Brom – Lai has put West Brom up for sale.
However, in a new development, according to the iNews report (29 September), the club’s wage bill has decreased by 16 per cent but needs to be further reduced which means West Brom will need to sell some first-team stars in the January window leaving Corberan in yet another state of flux at the Hawthorns.
iNews made it clear that the Baggies need to sell playing staff just to keep the club operational, suggesting that every penny counts at the Hawthorns.
The Spaniard is currently having to navigate through a massively depleted squad due to the £7m sale of Dara O’Shea, the release of Jake Livermore and critical injury troubles that have left West Brom possibly struggling to compete for Premier League promotion.
They could well have sold Brandon Thomas-Asante and Alex Palmer last summer after bids from elsewhere but both players ended up staying, though the club may well be forced to sell in the coming months after this new development.
Frustrations will be growing in the West Brom boardroom as Lai has repeatedly promised the loan and its interest will be paid back to the club, but this is yet to come to fruition.
West Brom is still up for sale after Lai’s over seven-year involvement with the Baggies. The Express and Star reported (26 September) that Miles had confirmed that the club are in talks regarding a potential takeover with “several interested parties” at the negotiating table which certainly puts an unnecessary cloud over Corberan and his men.
More critically, it’s an ongoing process which could have damaging repercussions to their January transfer business with the Spaniard desperately needing reinforcements to his squad.
Now, the reiterated stance of West Brom having to sell some of their key stars to keep their finances afloat will not help Corberan with the job and ambitions he holds in the West Midlands one bit.
The Baggies squad remains severely depleted right now and it could be worse in January with the desperate financial need to sell and the potential lack of transfer business.