West Ham are starting to see the dark side of the world and its wife knowing they have a billionaire at the helm and £155m in the bank from the sale of two players.
Daniel Kretinsky is a mean businessman and he clearly means business at West Ham too.
Since taking the Hammers helm from David Sullivan, the Czech energy tycoon has not put a foot wrong.
Most fans even forgave the risky decision to sell star midfielder Mateus Fernandes to Spurs given Kretinsky squeezed a whopping £85m – UP FRONT – out of West Ham’s bitter rivals.
West Ham see dark side of Kretinsky’s millions
The new Hammers chief drove a hard bargain to get £65m all told for Crysencio Summerville from Al Hilal, West Ham’s first mega money sale to Saudi.
Kretinsky has insisted West Ham do not need to sell players for financial reasons and his move to buy an additional 16 per cent of the club has injected £90m, at £5.6m per share.
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It has also been widely reported that the Royal Mail owner will inject a £100m loan into West Ham to personally fund the rebuild to be undertaken by Nuno Espirito Santo and the man he has appointed to head up recruitment, Nils Koppen.
But now West Ham are seeing the dark side of big money deals as Leicester make a huge demand of the Hammers.
All eyes at the London Stadium are now on making signings with the Championship season just around the corner.
While West Ham’s main core group of 14 or 15 players are more than good enough to mount a Championship title challenge, the squad undoubtedly needs strengthening in some key areas.
Particularly at centre-back.
Axel Disasi’s loan came to an end and with relegation it seems West Ham’s hopes of signing him permanently did too.
Leicester’s £10m demand shows what Hammers will face
Jean-Clair Todibo is refusing to ever play for the club again and is not wanted by Nuno.
That leaves Konstantinos Mavropanos and Max Kilman, who fell out of favour with the manager and fans last season, as the first choice centre-halves.
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While West Ham have lodged a £25m bid with Chelsea to sign Disasi, reports suggest he will not drop down to the Championship despite his short love affair in east London.
Cardiff sensation Dylan Lawlor is said to be a top West Ham defensive target while the Hammers have also been heavily linked with Leicester and Australia defender Harry Souttar.
But according to journalist Alan Nixon, Leicester – undoubtedly like every other club West Ham will try to do business with this summer – can smell the money when the Hammers come knocking.
The Scottish reporter claims the Foxes have demanded a whopping £10m for the giant 6ft 6in Aberdeen-born centre-back, who has been told he can leave after their relegation to League One.
Of all the clubs in for Souttar, Nixon claims West Ham are the most seriously interested but have been put off by the £10m price tag.
As a result Nuno and Koppen are said to be ‘exploring alternatives’ – especially as they already had concerns over Souttar’s injury record.
A League One club demanding that kind of money for an injury-prone and soon-to-be 28-year-old defender shows what the Hammers are going to be up against this summer.
Selling clubs will be adding a West Ham tax to player valuations, just as Leicester have done here with Souttar.
And that will only get worse if they sense West Ham are growing increasingly desperate for signings later in the window.
The good thing for West Ham is that Kretinsky, as he has proved already, knows his onions and will not be held over a barrel on transfers – in or out.
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