West Ham have set the record straight over a midfielder deal after a series of developments and the truth of the matter will leave Hammers fans gobsmacked.
- Hammers News exclusive
It may still be early days, but when the summer transfer window reopens on Monday, West Ham fans want to start seeing some action.
This is one of the most crucial windows in West Ham’s modern history.
The team has regressed massively in the last 18 months, sliding closer to the bottom of the table than the top eight.
The Hammers were fortunate the bottom three were so bad last season.
Many are expecting the most competitive Premier League for years next term.
Potter set out his summer expectations for West Ham
In order to improve and get back to competing in the top half, Graham Potter needs to drastically overhaul the team.
The head coach has made several things clear about a summer window he promised would be “exciting and interesting”.
Firstly that he, head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay and the board are all aligned over recruitment.
Secondly that Potter wants to trim his squad down as he feels there are too many senior players on West Ham’s books for a team that are not playing in Europe – which therefore makes it hard to foster a good team spirit.
Thirdly that he wants to lower the age of the Premier League’s oldest squad to build a new-look side around young stars who bring a different energy and have resale value.
Potter has also made it clear he ideally wants signings as early as possible so he can work with them in pre-season.
Overhauling a midfield painfully lacking in dynamism and pizzazz is a top priority, as well as signing a striker.
The problem is that all costs money.
And West Ham continue to insist they don’t have any until players are sold.
Mohammed Kudus, Nayef Aguerd, Maxwel Cornet and Emerson Palmieri are the leading contenders to be offloaded first.
But as things stand there are no imminent deals in the offing.
Hammers fans are furious at the club’s financial situation and stance on spending.
So much so many have been calling – and some petitioning – for the club to be sold to more ambitious owners.
West Ham have been citing PSR as a major problem since January.
West Ham issue statement on midfielder deal
The Hammers dropped a new £100m bombshell this week and revealed how much of the money raised in any sales can be used for transfers.
Now West Ham have issued a statement on a midfielder deal that will leave fans gobsmacked.
With the club pleading poverty over PSR, the last thing the Irons need is to haemorrhage more money while getting nothing out of it.
Reports out of Russia this week claimed West Ham will now be forced to fork out £7.2 million for a player they shipped out two years ago – Nikola Vlasic.
The Croatian failed to establish himself at West Ham following a move from CSKA Moscow which could have reportedly cost the Hammers as much as £33m with add-ons and a minimum of £26m.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there were reports West Ham would not have to pay the remainder of what they owed CSKA for Vlasic.
A CSKA director previously revealed they never received a second instalment of £7m due from West Ham for the transfer and that the Hammers had used a FIFA option to avoid paying it.
The Hammers went on to sell Vlasic to Torino for around £11m.
CSKA’s chief executive has now accused West Ham of ‘ignoring’ the situation.
Now, after the case was heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Russian publication Sport 24 report the Hammers have been ordered to pay CSKA a sum of £7.2 million, with interest.
Sport 24 add that, if West Ham do not pay the fee within the next 45 days, they could be hit with a transfer ban for the next three windows.
But now West Ham board have set the record straight over the Vlasic situation. And supporters won’t believe how farcical it is.
West Ham have confirmed the ruling that they must pay CSKA £7.2m.
Hammers set record straight on Vlasic – fans will be gobsmacked
But for the payment to be made, West Ham must first receive permission from the UK government after sanctions were placed on doing deals with Russian-based clubs following the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict.
The good news right now is that the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners exclusively told Hammers News: “But the UK Government won’t permit the payment as on it is on the banned list.”
On the face of it many would assume that is at least good news for West Ham’s PSR position.
Because it would effectively mean the first £7m raised in sales this summer would have to pay the Vlasic fee that instead of going straight to Potter to spend on signings?
However, in a bizarre twist West Ham have stated the Vlasic payment does still count as an outgoing on the club’s PSR balance sheet.
“It does count towards PSR as we owe the money even if we haven’t paid it and aren’t allowed to pay it by the government,” the West Ham board spokesman told Hammers News.
So the Vlasic money still counts towards PSR and still impacts how much West Ham can spend despite the club not actually having to physically pay it as per Government rules.
All for a player who left two years ago. Somebody make it make sense.
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