Leading football finance expert Kieran Maguire has made a quite staggering revelation about West Ham’s financial position.
West Ham are facing the prospect of a very busy summer transfer window.
With six first team players out of contract and quality signings needed in a host of positions that won’t come cheap.
The Premier League is expected to implement new PSR rules this summer.
That new system will be aligned with the squad cost-to-revenue ratio contained within UEFA’s Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR).
Hammers had a quiet January amid PSR uncertainty
West Ham did not spend any money in January beyond Kalvin Phillip’s loan fee.
That was despite offloading Said Benrahma, Thilo Kehrer, Pablo Fornals and Conor Coventry.
Given the points penalties being dished out to West Ham’s Premier League rivals for breaching profitability and sustainability rules, it has muddied the water about what the owners will or won’t have to spend this summer.
So fans may be very surprised indeed at figures posted by a top football finance expert.
Kieran Maguire has made a staggering revelation about West Ham’s financial position.
West Ham loss leader
According to the author of the Price of Football books and co-host of the podcasts by the same name, West Ham have the lowest operating loss of any club in the 2023 accounts bar the only side to make a profit – Brentford.
Maguire compared day to day losses pre player sales and interest costs for Prem clubs in the 2023 accounts.
It shows Brentford made a £4m operating profit.
But West Ham made an operating loss of £12m – the lowest of any club.
Brighton (-£16m) were next lowest while Leicester (-£152m) topped the charts.
Aston Villa (-£139m) and Everton (-£115m) had the next highest losses of West Ham’s rivals in the latest accounts.
West Ham were one of only four clubs to show an operating loss under £30m in the 2023 accounts.
What Maguire has said about West Ham’s summer spending power
“Day to day losses pre player sales and interest costs for PL clubs exceed £1bn,” Maguire said.
“Still awaiting final numbers for Leeds, Chelsea, Palace and Fulham, but suspect their figures may be higher than in 2022 which are in the chart (for those clubs) at present.”
Speaking exclusively to Hammers News recently, Maguire analysed West Ham’s financial position ahead of the summer.
And he said that while West Ham ‘will not be in a fantastic position’ under the new rules, the club will likely have a bit more wiggle room to spend especially as they feel the benefits of the Declan Rice sale and playing in Europe.
The top source inside West Ham told Hammers News what the club’s summer budget could look like last week.
The expected sale of Lucas Paqueta for £85m to Man City would also boost the manager’s kitty.