Guochuan Lai to repay £5m West Brom loan as Sky Sports pundit shares ‘gut feeling’
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Campbell trusts Guochuan Lai will settle the £5million debt he’s owed to West Brom for two years despite missing numerous repayment deadlines.
Last summer, Albion’s accounts confirmed that the Chinese businessman had taken a £4.95m loan out of the Black Country club to aid Wisdom Smart Holdings, one of his companies that struggled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lai owes a fixed amount of £50,000 in interest on top of the loan he took out, which was initially meant to be repaid in September 2021 [BirminghamLive].
It was then confirmed that a new repayment date had been planned for the end of December but a club statement then confirmed that it would be repaid early in 2023.
January and February have gone and the loan hasn’t been repaid – and as far as we know, other loans at the club are still outstanding.
However, ex-Baggies striker Campbell is confident that the money will eventually be paid back to the Championship promotion chasers.
Campbell does, however, admit that the timing of the repayment is completely up in the air.
Speaking to West Brom News, Campbell said: “My gut feeling says it’ll come back eventually but who knows when?
“That’s the problem. Who knows?
“It’s a difficult one because of the repercussions. £5million is a lot of money so as I said, I think it will come back but when? I have no idea.”
Lai said in the summer: “I can confirm I will repay the loan in full, with interest, by the end of the current calendar year and the funds will be available to the club during the January 2023 transfer window.”
However those funds weren’t available in January and Carlos Corberan only managed to sign Nathaniel Chalobah permanently while Marc Albrighton has joined on loan from Leicester.
In other West Brom news, the fans are demanding a meeting with the owner as questions about the £5m loan refuse to go away.