Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has recently discussed the sale of Sebastien Haller from West Ham United to Ajax.
Back in the summer of 2019, the Hammers sealed the arrival of the Ivorian striker from Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt for a whopping £45m fee (per BBC).
Over the following season and a half, the 26-year-old attacker made 53 appearances for the Irons, in which he managed to bag 14 goals and three assists (as per Transfermarkt).
During the current transfer window, Haller then departed the London Stadium on a permanent transfer to Dutch club Ajax for around €22.5m (£20.25m).
In the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, Maguire discussed how the deal will not recoup as much money for West Ham as it first seemed.
He said: “It turns out that they were buying Haller on instalments and, therefore, when they’ve sold him to Ajax, it looks as if some of the money from Ajax will actually end up in the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt.
“It then turns out that Eintracht Frankfurt had taken the IOUs from West Ham and they’d sold them on to somebody else, so, you end up with these daisy chains of transactions.
“My concern, in respect of issues of this nature, is that if you’ve got a long daisy chain, it only takes one party to fail to make a payment on time, that could have a bit of a domino effect in European football.
“Now, there’s no evidence of anything of that nature taking place in respect of West Ham.
“I know West Ham fans are itching to see the proceeds of the sale of Sebastien Haller get reinvested in expanding the squad, but they’re not going to get the £20m because they’re going to have to go and pay some of it across to Eintracht Frankfurt’s IOU people.”
TIF Thoughts on what Kieran Maguire said about the sale of Sebastien Haller…
As can be seen in what Maguire had to say, there is some “concern” over a “domino effect” following Haller’s sale, however, “there’s no evidence” of that for West Ham.
Will West Ham sign a striker to replace Sebastien Haller this month?
No, I don't think so
Yes, surely we will do
The Irons, though, have been known to miss paying instalments for Haller in the past, with them having avoided punishment from FIFA over a missed £5.4m payment previously (per The Guardian).
So, hopefully, the funds from the sale of the Ivorian striker to Ajax will ensure that kind of thing does not happen again.