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West Bromwich Albion: Masi makes claim on Lai’s finances ahead of transfer window

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Joseph Masi and Luke Hatfield discussed all of the latest West Bromwich Albion news on the most recent edition of The Express and Star’s Baggies Broadcast podcast and Masi spent some time talking about West Brom’s current financial situation during the show. 

This podcast came out after it emerged that Sam Allardyce has become the West Midlands club’s new manager, replacing Slaven Bilic hours after he was sacked on Wednesday

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To kick off this quiz on Matheus Pereira, from which Portuguese club did Albion sign the playmaker?

While discussing the former England manager’s appointment to the Hawthorns hot seat during this podcast, Masi spent some time looking ahead to next month’s transfer window and what funds Allardyce might have available to him. 

On that topic, the journalist discussed Albion owner Guochuan Lai’s financial situation and he revealed that Lai “genuinely can’t” invest money into the club at present, casting a dim light on the prospect of Albion giving new boss Allardyce much funds to work with when the transfer window re-opens next month. 

Here is what Masi had to say about Lai’s financial situation: “From the people I do speak to, it’s not he doesn’t want to invest, it’s that he genuinely can’t; it’s that he hasn’t got the funds available to him, hence the reason why there’s the ongoing issue of that outstanding loan that he inherited – he simply cannot pay it back. So, I can’t see any money forthcoming from Lai.”

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TIF Thoughts on what Masi had to say about Lai’s finances…

Bilic was reportedly frustrated with his club’s spending in the summer transfer window but perhaps it’s understandable why he wasn’t given more money to work with this past summer when taking into account Masi’s comments on Lai’s financial situation on this podcast. 

With Masi explaining that the Albion owner is simply not in a position to invest in the relegation-battling Premier League club at present, that certainly doesn’t make it seem as though the new West Brom boss is going to be far happier with the transfer funds available to him in January than Bilic was with his transfer budget in the summer. 

As a result, if the ‘survival specialist’ is going to succeed in keeping the Baggies in the top flight this season, it seems he may be limited to doing so with the player’s currently available to him, without a significant injection of talent from elsewhere next month.

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