Luke Hatfield and Joe Masi discussed all of the latest West Bromwich Albion news on the most recent edition of the Express and Star’s Baggies Broadcast podcast, where they spent some time talking about Baggies owner Guochuan Lai’s aims for the club.
While discussing Lai’s intentions for West Brom, Masi indicated that he believes the Chinese businessman wants to sell the club, and the journalist went on to issue a claim on the figure that he thinks the Albion owner would accept for West Brom.
Masi said: “What are his long-term aims for the club and what are his short-term aims for the club? Short-term, is it for sale – yes or no? We think it is.
“Doing a bit more digging over the last week or so compared to when we last spoke about this, it’s been reported he bought it for around £200m – I think he actually bought it for about £175m, and I think that’s why there has been a figure bandied around of £175m that he’d be willing to accept. That [is] essentially getting his money back, isn’t it? So I’m sure he would.”
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TIF Thoughts on what Masi had to say about Lai’s valuation of West Brom…
West Brom supporters might not be too disappointed to see the back of Lai if he ends up selling West Brom, given that they are said to be unhappy with his lack of investment in the west Midlands club.
As per the Express and Star, Lai would ideally like West Brom to run self-sufficiently. However, given that the pandemic has had a notable impact on football clubs’ finances, perhaps it is especially difficult for the club to run self-sufficiently at present – and potentially one reason why Lai would seemingly be open to selling.
Additionally, does the fact that Masi indicated Lai would be willing to not even make a profit by selling the club give us an indication that Lai would just like to move on from West Brom?
If that is the case, then with that in mind, as well as the fact that some of the club’s fans are said to have their issues with the owner, perhaps a sale would be best for all parties involved and it will be interesting to see if any further development occurs concerning a potential sale of West Brom in the near future.