West Brom are currently in the process of entering into a new era.
Last week, it was announced that Florida businessman Shilen Patel has agreed a deal to buy a controlling stake in the club.
As a result, he will assume ownership of the Baggies, taking over from Guochuan Lai at The Hawthorns.
Lai is therefore set to leave the club, some seven-and-a-half years after he first became involved with West Brom.
Now, the amount he is set to receive for the sale of the Baggies, appears to have become clearer.
Guachuan Lai guaranteed eight-figure fee
According to a report from The Athletic, Lai is only certain to receive around £10million for selling West Brom.
It is thought that Patel will pay £2.5million to Lai when the takeover is completed in the coming days.
Lai will then receive a further £2.5million in August this year. Another £5.5million payment will be made to the Chinese businessman in August 2025.
If West Brom win promotion this season, Lai will be paid an additional £18million. That sum will drop to £10million if they go up next season, and to £5million if promotion is secured in the 2025/26 campaign.
Promotion for the club in 2027, would earn Lai a fee of £2million. Currently, Carlos Corberan‘s side are fifth in the Championship table, 17 points adrift of the automatic promotion places.
West Brom are next in action on Saturday afternoon, when they travel to The MKM Stadium to face Hull City.
Guochuan Lai set for big loss on West Brom
Even if he does receive the maximum amount for the sale of the club, Lai still looks set to make a significant loss of what he put into The Hawthorns.
When he took over West Brom back in the summer of 2016, it was reported that the Chinese businessman would have paid somewhere in the region of £200million.
That is of course, a lot more than it now looks as though Lai is set to receive from Patel for the sale of the club.
As a result, this investment in West Brom, seems as though it will be one that simply hasn’t worked out as Lai would have wanted it to.
Even so, that may not be a huge concern for those of a Baggies persuasion. There has been some considerable uncertainty about the future of the club under Lai in recent times.
Securing the financial stability of West Brom will therefore have been their top priority, and it looks as though this takeover now ought to do that.