The king was on loan at West Ham from Spartak Moscow in the 2021/22 season, but he played only one single minute in the Premier League for the Hammers. The 24-year-old midfielder moved to Bundesliga side Schalke 04 this season, taking advantage of FIFA’s decision to allow players to suspend their contracts in Russia until next summer.
Spartak has now bailed out, saying that the Hammers have still not paid part of the fee for hosting the Czech international. In total, West Ham had to pay 5.2 million euros (roughly 127 million crowns). “The payment by transfer should have been made in two installments. One was done, the other was not,” the club said.
Officially: @alexkralcz moved from Spartak to @WestHam on loan ????????
The agreement is calculated until the end of this season and provides for the mandatory redemption of the player’s transfer under certain conditions.
We wish Alex to prove himself successfully in England! ???????? pic.twitter.com/OSSblG1ypL
— FC Spartak Moscow (@fcsm_official) August 31, 2021
The second installment was supposed to be paid at the beginning of February, it is said that West Ham even transferred it to the FIFA Clearing House account, but after February 24 (the outbreak of the war in Ukraine), Barclays refused to transfer it to the account opened in Russia. “Because of this, the funds have been returned to West Ham’s account. The club claims that it cannot make a payment bypassing the association and payment through it is impossible due to the position of the bank,” Spartak said.
As a result, Spartak filed a debt recovery application with FIFA’s football tribunal. He expects a decision in early November.
