Former West Ham United fullback Nigel Winterburn can see an ownership battle brewing at London stadium.
The Irons signed off for their Premier League campaign with defeat at Leicester City on Sunday. The setback a blip with all focus on the June 7 Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina in Prague.
A victory would mark the crowning achievement of West Ham's majority shareholder David Sullivan. However, there could be pressure looming over the summer with minority stake older Daniel Kretinsky weighing up his options.
The Czech Republic billionaire, who is said to boast €9bn in assets, holds a 27 per cent stake in the Irons. And The Times has reported Kretinsky is considering making a full-blown push for control.
For Winterburn, he can see the time could be ripe for such a takeover attempt. And given Kretinsky's wealth, he can see it being a positive - if the Czech is willing to make serious investment.
Speaking on behalf of OLBG, Winterburn told Tribalfootball.com: "It all depends on how much a new potential owner is going to put in.
"There will be many supporters who will tell you about their owners who are very wealthy but feel like they need more investment.
"It's because you want to see your team performing at the top, people complain at the money Manchester City spend, but I don't think you'd hear one of their supporters complaining.
"It could potentially transform West Ham and take them to the next level with a potential new ownership if they inject some money into the club.
"I would see that as a major positive for the club, but as we've seen time and time again, new owners don't always come to fruition about what they're going to do before they get in there.
"They make promises about what they're going to do and where they want to take the club before leaving them in a fair bit of trouble."
However, despite the qualifier from Winterburn, the Arsenal great can see a lot of upside should Kretinsky buy the club.
He added, "Obviously, that doesn't happen every time there's a change of ownership and for me this takeover from Daniel Kretinsky sounds like a positive step in the right direction.
"It'll certainly be interesting to see if the takeover does happen and if we see some more investment into the club.
"At that point it will become a positive."
