West Brom news: Ron Gourlay still chasing up Guochuan Lai loan after two missed deadlines
West Brom chief executive Ron Gourlay is still continuing the “unenviable” task of chasing up the money owed to the club by majority shareholder Guochuan Lai, according to Birmingham Live.
Lai has failed to meet two agreed deadlines for the repayment and still owes Albion the £5million sum that he borrowed from the club in March 2021, including interest.
The Chinese entrepreneur has missed the two deadlines for the loan repayment of September 2021 and New Year’s Eve in 2022, which has left Gourlay awaiting the funds plus any interest involved.
Birmingham Live journalist Joseph Chapman wrote (Thursday 16 February): “It is understood that the chasing up of money owed to the club by majority shareholder Guochuan Lai is ongoing.
“Chief executive Ron Gourlay has been left with the rather unenviable task of chasing the sum, cash that ought to have been allocated to Carlos Corberan and head of recruitment Ian Pearce for use during January transfer window, but which still must be returned.”
Ongoing challenge
Gourlay finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place right now as he attempts to chase up the funds owed to the club, but he still continues to receive criticism from the West Brom fanbase.
The main problem with the money not being repaid on the New Year’s Eve deadline was that Carlos Corberan was unable to bolster his squad in any significant manner in January – apart from a pair of deadline-day loans for Marc Albrighton and Nathaniel Chalobah.
Although both of these players have added their own elements of strength to Albion’s squad, the £5million owed by Lai would have been a brilliant way to attract some top talent to The Hawthorns in the winter window.
The Baggies are well in with a chance of gaining promotion to the Premier League through the play-off spots, but you can’t help but feel they may be a couple of per cent off – with the missing piece of the jigsaw these missing funds.
In other West Brom news, a first-team player suffers a fresh injury blow and is now likely to be out until April.