After blocking Amanda Staveley’s first takeover bid, co-owners Daniel Kretinsky and David Sullivan plan to sell West Ham to her at a very specific moment, according to former top Premier League chief executive Christian Purslow.

If anyone knows the whispers in boardrooms around the country it is Christian Purslow.

The former Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa chief executive is well connected in the upper echelons of English football and he has a theory about what will happen next with West Ham’s ownership.

Many Hammers fans were disappointed when Amanda Staveley saw her ambitious West Ham takeover bid blocked by Daniel Kretinsky and David Sullivan.

Purslow says Kretinsky and Sullivan still plan to sell West Ham to Staveley

When Sullivan resigned from the West Ham board in the summer, he looked certain to sell when Staveley launched an ambitious bid for his and Vanessa Gold’s stakes, backed by a host of US billionaires already involved in top level sport in their own country.

But Czech billionaire Kretinsky and Sullivan joined forces to block the bid as they each took up pre-emption rights to increase their stakes to 46 and 40 per cent respectively.

Staveley issued a statement after the failed takeover attempt making it clear she remains interested in buying West Ham, hinting she will return with another offer.

Now Christian Purslow has claimed Kretinsky and Sullivan plan to sell West Ham at a very specific moment.

Speaking to Henry Winter on The Football Boardroom podcast, Purslow revealed he believes Kretinsky and Sullivan have an agreement to sell West Ham the moment they are mathematically guaranteed to be in the Premier League next season.

And Purslow makes it clear his opinion is backed up by high level information rather than a hunch as he states Staveley will reappear to finally get her hands on the Hammers and sort the London Stadium, saying “watch this space”.

“These two (Kretinsky and Sullivan) are clearly working together behind the scenes,” Purslow said.

“The second this club is back in the Premier League, by which I mean mathematically certain of going up, then I think that’s the moment where both of these guys will be thinking ‘Okay, this would be a good time to for us to get out’.

Staveley will reappear to buy West Ham and sort stadium, says Purslow

“We know, obviously, David Sullivan isn’t a long-term holder of West Ham at this stage of his career with his age, the background, all the stuff that’s been going on (including fans protesting for him to leave).

“Kretinsky’s got a hell of a lot going on over at the Royal Mail, that isn’t going well.

“I just don’t get the sense this guy wants to own all of West Ham and have all of the headache. These wealthy guys when they realise just how different owning a football club is to owning The Royal Mail, in terms of profile and hassle, I just don’t get the sense he’s up for it.

“So my view is that once this club is firmly on the runway to the Premier League, then they’ll want to sell the whole club.

“And I have a feeling Amanda Staveley might well reappear because she will be the natural buyer for the whole club, given – unlike anyone else in English football – we know she’s got relevant recent experience, she knows the club inside out, she did a hell of a lot of diligence to buy the (stakes) in the first place.

“And she is a woman with a plan and that plan is to sort out the perennial issue of the stadium.

That will be music to the ears of Hammers fans who still want Sullivan out of the club and have been unconvinced by Kretinsky, especially given he elected to keep Nuno Espirito Santo in the summer and refuses to take his ownership over 50 per cent.

Whether Purslow is right remains to be seen but he would clearly be privy to information the general public are not and that suggests this scenario could very much be on the cards come what May.

Now it’s over to Scott Parker and the team to make it happen.