West Ham’s £5m bill and Sebastian is gone...
WEST HAM will receive less than £15million from Ajax following the sale of record signing Sebastian Haller this month with more than a quarter of the £20m transfer fee owed to a private equity company.
The club failed to make a scheduled £5.4m payment due to Eintracht Frankfurt last summer, leading to West Ham being reported to FIFA – and Sportsmail can reveal that the matter was resolved by the German club selling the debt on to investment company MSD Capital.
Haller joined West Ham for a club-record £45m in 2019 but, like many high-end transfers, the fee was to be repaid in instalments.
A 75% down-payment was made, with the rest of the money due over the five years of the 26-year-old’s five-year contract at the London Stadium, including a £5.4m payment due last summer.
But, following a cash crisis triggered by the first lockdown last year, West Ham exercised their right to pause some of the remaining payments.
FIFA then launched an investigation, which was settled by Eintracht selling the debt on to MSD, who will now receive a portion of the £20m fee West Ham agreed with Ajax.
The New York-based company founded by computer tycoon Michael Dell have become increasingly influential in English football recently by lending money to Southampton, Burnley, Derby and Sunderland.
Such arrangements are not unusual, with many middle-ranking European clubs frequently using private-equity funding for transfers, but provide a clear illustration of the impact of the pandemic on the Premier League — and on West Ham in particular.
The club have been one of the hardest hit by the absence of crowds. Since they moved to the London Stadium five years ago, its additional capacity and match-day hospitality facilities have increased revenue, enabling them to sign players such as Haller.
But the striker failed to make an impact, scoring just 14 goals in 54 appearances, leading to him being sold for less than half of his purchase price.
Eintracht initially complained to FIFA after West Ham missed a payment deadline last May but the dispute was ultimately settled amicably.
Meanwhile, West Ham have followed Arsenal and Tottenham in taking out a substantial loan to solve their short-term cash-flow problems — the details of which will be revealed when the club publish their accounts for 2019-20 next month.