Simon Jordan has defended West Ham over the lucrative deal the club have given Kurt Zouma.
It follows reports that Hammers players are unhappy that the defender has been brought in from Chelsea on a huge wage.
Speaking on Talksport, former Crystal Palace owner Jordan argued that players want their club to improve the squad and increase the chances of success.
Jordan added: “If you want to evolve a football club then it’s very difficult. The bar is being raised all the time in terms of what people will and won’t pay.
“You can’t sit there being King Canute saying ‘I’ve got a wage structure and I’m going to stick with that’. It will exclude you from the opportunities that football will provide. It’s a balancing act.”
Zouma, 26, moved to the London Stadium for a fee close to £30m, signing a four-year contract with the Hammers.
That contract reportedly nets Zouma a whopping £125,000 a week in wages – and The Sun claimed that “has not gone down particularly well with other players” at West Ham, where the newspaper say manager David Moyes “has created a tight-knit group.”
Moyes is certainly getting a player with pedigree, with Zouma having won two Premier League titles, a Champions League and a League Cup during his seven-year spell at Stamford Bridge.
The French centre-back has plenty of Premier League experience despite not managing to establish himself as a regular starter for Chelsea – he impressed during spells on loan at Stoke and Everton.
He made 151 appearances for the Blues in all competitions, scoring 10 goals, with 36 of those appearances coming last season.
But he was behind the likes of Andreas Christensen, Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger in the pecking order and was keen to move on this summer in order to get regular game time.
