After the publication of £104m of losses for last season, all attention reverts to this season and what losses ‘might’ be incurred by West Ham up to end of May 2026.
Wages stood at £176m last summer and should drop by around £11m this season after a flurry of departures of high earners in the last nine months.
West Ham’s operating expenses were £237m last season leaving an operating loss of £5m
The Hammers are thought to have shed £33.5m from their wage bill in the last nine months that could mean an operating profit of £28.5m next season.
However, player trading or amortisation is likely to stay around £100m this season meaning potential losses of £71.5m if nothing is done.
West Ham made £20m profit from player trading last season:
But that needs to ramp up this summer to keep losses under £58m and within PSR guidelines for the last time before they are replaced: A ticking time bomb this summer – even before the real possibility of the financial disaster of relegation from the Premier League gets factored in.
Profit from selling Lucas Paquetá was quickly wiped out
The Hammers did make a profit of around £8.5m in January after the sale of Lucas Paqueta
Taty Castellanos (Lazio, £25.5m) Pablo Felipe (Gil Vicente, £20m) Total inbound £45.5m
Luis Guilherme (Sporting, £17.5m) Lucas Paqueta (Flamengo, £36.5m) Total outbound £54m
In the summer of 2025, which was after last season’s accounts that were just published, West Ham had a net spend of £62m as revealed in the accounts on Friday. So, net spend so far in this financial period is around £53.5m which is a ‘loss’ in player trading terms.
Thankfully Taty and Pablo’s transfer fees will be calculated over the length of their contracts and not in one go
Player trading. Net profit this season is over £100m
Well run, great scouting set up, and now excellent training facilities for the 1st team and academy at Canford.
The question that springs to mind for me, is how do Bournemouth manage to survive at the top level with such a small stadium?