Financial expert Dan Plumley believes West Ham United are valued at around £400m, amid talks that investors would need £1bn to buy the club from the current owners. 

On TalkSPORT, West Ham legend Tony Cottee suggested it could cost a billion pounds to for a new investor to buy West Ham United. He said: “The problem is, I think there’s a wider mess, I mean there’s a lot of issues with the fans and the board, they’re not happy with the board. But that’s ongoing unless someone unbelievably produces a billion quid or whatever it is to buy the club out, that won’t happen in the next few years.”

However, despite Cottee’s £1bn claim just being a throwaway comment without any real research, the 1986 Hammer of the Year winner has been proven wrong by financial expert Dan Plumley.

The lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and football finance expert believes the club is valued at £400m, disagreeing with Tony Cottee’s claim, saying the £1bn could include the investment needed after purchasing the East London club.

Speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone, Plumley said: “I think if you look at the valuation first, the finances have been in generally good shape for the last couple of years. So on a valuation, you’ve got to put them in the Newcastle, Everton ballpark: £350m, top end maybe £400m. But for a full purchase of the club, they’re in that kind of ballpark for sure.

“Now, if you take that figure of £1bn, that means we’re suggesting £500m to £600m over the top to do whatever. You need to see the details of what that looks like in terms of what he means by that. Probably some of that is money in the transfer market for players. That’s what they’ll be looking at, to strengthen the squad.

“You might say that £500m isn’t enough to change that squad, to make it a top six. But it’s the aim, top six. But certainly, on a valuation, £350 to £400 would be a realistic and quite an achievable valuation. Then you’ve got to kick on from there.

“The investment to grow West Ham would take time, and it’s not a quick fix, and you can’t just go in and throw £500m to £600m at it as well because of PSR. I think the two need to be separated out there: the overall number and actually the valuation of the club and what it would be worth.”

However, despite the calls for new ownership to help the club push on, there is no reason why we cannot do that under our current ownership. In the last five seasons, only six clubs in Europe have had a higher net spend than West Ham United. If we can spend that money perfectly, by signing the right players, which is a lot more likely to happen with Potter and Macauley the Hammers really could push to become more consistent top 6 challengers.