West Ham wake-up call over £13bn man Daniel Kretinsky after major Chelsea twist

One year later, though, in November 2021, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky paid around £150m for a 27 per cent stake in West Ham.

Chelsea’s spending since the arrival of Todd Boehly and co has been unprecedented.

But comparatively, West Ham’s has been vastly elevated since Kretinsky pitched up at the London Stadium too.

Chelsea and West Ham money men making headlines

Kretinsky has actually doubled his net worth from an estimated £6.5bn to over £13bn – and counting – since joining the Hammers.

The stunning rise in his personal wealth saw West Ham leapfrog Aston Villa and Man City as the club with the third richest owners in the Premier League.

Chelsea’s spending has been on another planet to most teams, including London rivals West Ham.

But the Hammers have been the sixth biggest spenders in the top flight since Kretinsky came on board.

The hope among many West Ham fans was always that his buy-in was a pre-cursor to an eventual full takeover.

So Hammers supporters were furious at claims Kretinsky could leave the club this week.

Football Correspondent Graeme Bailey claimed on TBR that Kretinsky may sell his stake for around £200m – £50m more than he originally paid for it.

Bailey claimed Kretinsky is ‘somewhat frustrated with how West Ham is being run’.

He also stated the soon-to-be Royal Mail owner is unwilling to wait much longer to increase his stake.

Kretinsky, it was stated, is even considering investing in a rival Premier League club if he gets a sale.

Meanwhile, across London at Chelsea, speculation has been rife all season of boardroom civil war between Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.

Chelsea have two owners wanting to buy each other out but neither wants to sell, amid a rift at the heart of the club.

West Ham’s Kretinsky wake-up call after major Chelsea twist

Off the back of the Kretinsky stake sale claims, a new report emerged stating he is in fact more likely to buy West Ham outright than sell up.

West Ham responded on the Kretinsky situation this week, and it is fair to say the reaction was coy.

Now West Ham have been given a big wake-up call over their £13bn man Kretinsky after a major Chelsea twist.

As most Hammers fans will know, Kretinsky owns his boyhood club Sparta Prague.

Sparta are European regulars by virtue of their dominance – along with bitter rivals Slavia – of Czech football.

UEFA’s strict multi-club ownership rules have always cast doubt over whether Kretinsky could – or would – ever launch a full West Ham takeover.

Chelsea’s UEFA threat shows what West Ham are up against

Now a developing situation out of Stamford Bridge gives Hammers fans giddy at the prospect of Kretinsky becoming their majority owner, something of a rude awakening.

Because Ligue 1 side Strasbourg – managed by Liam Rosenior, son of former Hammers hero Leroy – are now one point off a Champions League spot going into the run-in.

Strasbourg are owned by Chelsea’s ownership company BlueCo.

According to Telegraph journalist Matt Law, if the French club and the Blues – who are fourth in the Premier League table – qualify for the same European competition, then BlueCo would have to pause their involvement in Strasbourg via a trust.

Chelsea and Strasbourg would not be able to transfer players to one another or use a shared scouting database until the end date of the trust.

The strict rules are also said to be putting English clubs off multi-club expansions as they are being threatened with European expulsion or the need to reshuffle.

The complex situation serves as a warning to West Ham about the difficulties their Czech money man would face were he to ever want a full takeover.

Kretinsky denied wanting to own West Ham outright in a rare TV interview in his homeland last June.

But he did state then that he was open to increasing his stake.