A jaw-dropping revelation from football finance expert Kieran Maguire has raised serious questions over the West Ham transfer budget.
Fans had been eagerly awaiting news of the club’s summer transfer budget ahead of a major rebuild.
It has been abundantly clear for some time that West Ham need to spend big and well this summer.
Technical director Tim Steidten now has full control of recruitment with Julen Lopetegui named head coach rather than manager.
The Spaniard will have an input and has already reportedly told Steidten and David Sullivan the positions he wants to see strengthened.
After retaining Aaron Cresswell, West Ham have a squad of 17 players.
The Hammers have also confirmed they are in talks to sign Ben Johnson and Divin Mubama up to extensions. Though the latter would surely be sent out on a much-needed loan.
Hammers have £100m transfer budget
Further departures are expected to raise funds so West Ham will need to make at least six to eight new signings.
Jaw-dropping Maguire revelation raises questions over budget
Maguire, a friend of Hammers News, told his Price of Football podcast that West Ham are ranked third in the Premier League in terms of the best EBITDA.
EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation and is a standard of financial measurement used to judge a business’ performance.
Only Arsenal and Brentford – widely regarded as two of the best run clubs in Europe’s top leagues – have a better EBITDA score than West Ham according to Maguire.
West Ham are even ahead of Spurs.
“To my complete surprise when I did this (EBITDA calculation), the four clubs with the highest return on EBITDA, first of all Arsenal, second Brentford, third West Ham and fourth Spurs,” Maguire said.
“And I thought Jesus Christ it is true, so London does have a premium.
“Why? Because you can charge more money for tickets, yes you’re having to pay some more money on wages, so that really took me back.”
