West Ham coughed up millions to agents for signings

West Ham United's new owners don't believe they'll be out of the financial woods for another four years.

The Daily Mail says Kieron Dyer’s agent has received £1m for his transfer in 2007 and, a year later, Valon Behrami’s agent was paid £1.5m for helping to bring the Swiss midfielder to the club from Lazio.

These are just a few examples of the recklessness which has driven the Hammers to the brink of catastrophe and the new owners predict it will be three years for the problems to bottom out.

"By the fourth year, maybe we can start to look forward," David Sullivan told the Daily Mail. "The situation they’ve inherited from us at Birmingham is far better than the one we’ve inherited, in terms of the way the club is run, the wages they carry, contracts, infrastructure. The training ground at Birmingham is vastly superior. We spent millions on it.

"At West Ham, we have a lot of players on too much money and a lot of very injured players. It is a disaster if we go down but we’ll just have to find a solution. We’re hoping to stay up and deliver an improved team next season. Some players will have to come in, some will have to go."