Guochuan Lai debt update as West Brom takeover news drops at The Hawthorns
The debt owed by Guochuan Lai to Alex Hearn has doubled to £4million over the past three years, according to The Athletic.
Matt Slater reported for the outlet [11 February] that the debt was not repaid before last week’s deadline.
Lai borrowed £2m from Aston Villa supporter Hearn in 2021, secured on 2.35 per cent of West Brom’s shares.
Hearn is said to be happy to wait for his payment and has signalled he would convert the loan into a minority stake at The Hawthorns.
That will only likely happen if partner Chris Farnell is able to strike a deal with Lai to purchase the club, with talks set to take place in China this week.
Despite those talks, American businessman Shilen Patel is said to remain the frontrunner to push through a takeover.
West Brom debts continuing to rise
As this report lays out, West Brom are currently £40m in debt and heading towards a £35m annual loss, with next year’s picture no better.
Not that Albion supporters need telling, but the club are in a pretty terrible financial position right now and that could spell major trouble.
This takeover has dragged on long enough and with each month the debts are only rising higher.
Hearn is clearly happy to play the long game, although that is not down to any sort of love for West Brom, but rather for his own personal gain.
In fairness, what Hearn is doing is fair enough. He is owed money by the club and is using that to his advantage as part of these talks with Lai.
If Patel is the man who wins the race to buy Albion, he will surely want to pay off Hearn as a priority in order to start wiping these debts clean.
The key is that someone new is in place soon, whoever that may be. If not, the long-term picture at The Hawthorns does not beat thinking about.
In other West Brom news, Adrian Goldberg has raised a “note of caution” with regards to the takeover.
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