Stefan Borson drops verdict on West Ham matching Man City transfer plan
West Ham are unlikely to take the same approach as Manchester City this month by overpaying for any potential new signings.
That is the view of former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the east London club are only likely to sign players on an opportunistic basis despite having plenty of profit and sustainability (PSR) capacity to agree deals.
West Ham published their accounts for 2023-24 last month (30 December), revealing their turnover rose from £236.7million in 2022-23 to a club-record £269.8million.
The club also managed to go from making a £17.1million loss in 2022-23 to last season recording a £57.2million net profit, which was largely driven by the club-record sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal in July 2023.
Graham Potter has replaced Julen Lopetegui in the hot seat at the London Stadium after signing a two-and-a-half-year contract with the club.
The East Londoners are yet to agree any new signings in the current transfer window, while Man City have signalled their intent to strengthen their squad this month.
Pep Guardiola’s side have been in talks about signing Eintracht Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov from Lens and Vitor Reis of Palmeiras, with those deals likely to cost well over £100million.
West Ham have PSR capacity to agree new signings this month
But Borson doesn’t expect West Ham to be as active as the Premier League champions this month.
He told Football Insider: “They have got loads of capacity, so it’s a case of whether they want to do deals.
“But in terms of PSR, it’s not an issue for them. They are probably one of the top five in terms of PSR capacity in the Premier League.
“The question more for West Ham is can they get deals over the line in this window because there are 72 teams around Europe still in European competitions.
“They do have the pull of being in London, but you would think players might just say ‘I would love to go to West Ham, but I would rather wait until the summer because what’s the urgency?’.
“I suspect they would not approach it in the way Man City are approaching this window.
“Man City are accepting they are going to have to overpay for some of their signings.
“I suspect West Ham might feel they will do deals but only on an opportunistic basis, and they will go with what they have got from now until the end of the season.”
In other news, West Ham set sights on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall deal – insider.
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