Kieran Maguire ‘deeply disturbed by £28m West Brom news as new details emerge
The fact that Guochuan lai is gambling with the financial future of West Brom is “deeply disturbing” and could end in disaster.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Baggies’ controversial new loan with MSD Holdings.
The club announced on Wednesday (28 December) that they had borrowed £20million from the private lender.
A source told Football Insider later that day that the arrangement, which is a four-year deal, comes with an interest rate of 10 per cent, rising to 12 per cent if certain conditions are not met.
That means that Albion will pay £28m in total if they use the full four-year repayment window available to them.
Lai himself has already borrowed £5m from the club, which is due to be prepared b the end of the month.
There is also an ongoing independent investigation into a £3.7m loan to former owner Jeremy Peace in 2014, and that figure has since risen to close to £5m with interest.
Maguire issued a scathing assessment about the current state of affairs behind the scenes at the Hawthorns.
“The MSD Holdings loan is deeply concerning,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“You wonder how the club is going to repay this if they are still in the Championship. You have now got the club haemorrhaging £2m per year in terms of interest.
“It appears that the owner is playing stick or twist in a very high-stakes game of blackjack. This is genuinely disturbing.
“Remember, Lai himself has borrowed £5m from the club. That is due for repayment by 31 December. There was no reference to that repayment on the club website even though it is only 48 hours away.
“For a club as proud and famous as West Brom to have someone gambling with the club’s future is worrying. If that loan has to be repaid in four years and they.”
In other news, Norwich City and West Brom plot moves for Aston Villa sensation Lamare Bogarde.