Former England international Danny Mills believes West Ham United are sitting pretty thanks to the fantastic deal they did for the London Stadium.
The Daily Mail reported recently that talks over the sale of the club have been taking place in America, but that co-owner David Sullivan’s £600million valuation is putting off potential investors. Sky Sports pundit Mills, though, thinks the Hammers are worth it.
“They don’t need to sell, they don’t need the money,” he told Football Insider. “If someone wants to buy it, the ground is very, very cheap, they’re an asset-rich club, it looks like they’re going to be in the Premier League for a few years – valuations are whatever somebody wants to pay for it.
“It’s probably realistic when you look at it; they don’t owe a huge amount of money, they did a fabulous deal on the stadium, they’re getting 40-50,000 fans through the door, they’ve brought in some good players as well so I don’t think there’s any real fear they would go down.”
OPINION
It’s hard to disagree with what Mills is saying, here, which is a novel thing to say. West Ham are in a good position these days. The deal they did for the London Stadium means that they are doing well financially and are able to invest heavily in the transfer market which, in theory, should improve the team and its results. The BBC reported that the Hammers pay just £2.5million a year in rent for the use of their ground, a minuscule fee by Premier League standards. That’s what Mills is referring to, here. As he says, they are an asset-rich right now, with a cheap stadium, big crowds and a talented playing squad. If the team’s on-the-field performance continues to improve under Manuel Pellegrini then you have to wonder whether Sullivan might just be able to secure the monster £600million fee he wants for the club. In this day and age, with the popularity of the Premier League and with the Hammers sitting pretty at this moment in time, it wouldn’t be a major surprise if they did get that amount.
