Guochuan Lai misses West Brom £5m loan deadline again
Albion have confirmed they are yet to receive the £4.95million loan from controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai – who has sent 'assurances' the fee will be paid 'early in the new year'.
A further delay means the owner has now missed a second deadline to repay the figure he took out of the club in March 2021 to aid Wisdom Smart Corporation, another of his companies.
The cash was initially supposed to be returned in September 2021 but, upon the release of Albion's delayed accounts in the summer of 2022, a new date was confirmed as today (December 31).
But, despite ever growing anti-ownership protests from a desperate fanbase, the club have confirmed that the fee, now beyond £5m with interest, has once again not been paid as we enter 2023.
Lai, who remains absent from the club, 'has assured the club’s board of directors the repayment will now be made early in the new year' according to a club statement.
No further specific deadline was given.
Chairman Lai, speaking in the summer, vowed that the loan would be paid by the end of the calendar year and in time to spend on player recruitment in the January transfer window, which opens tomorrow.
He said then: “The upturn in the global economy has brought with it greater positivity and 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."
Albion chief executive Ron Gourlay has since said he was convinced the borrowing would be repaid.
The update comes as a further hammerblow for the Baggies faithful, who this week received confirmation their club had to take out a £20m loan from investment firm MSD Holdings to get by.
