Shaquille O’Neal to West Ham United: Basketball icon 'in talks' to buy ownership stake in Premier League club

Basketball legend and Hollywood actor Shaquille O’Neal is reportedly in talks to purchase a stake in West Ham United ahead of the 2024/25 Premier League season.

O’Neal attended a Hammers game last season, and this is believed to have inspired him to consider buying a stake in the club - though nothing official has been confirmed as of yet.

Furthermore, it is not known how large O’Neal’s stake would be - he is, however, one of the richest ex-athletes in the world, with an estimated net worth of around £400 million [via Celebrity Net Worth].

Should O’Neal decide to purchase a stake in West Ham, he would not be the first American sporting star to have part ownership in an English club. NFL icon Tom Brady bought a stake in Birmingham City last year and has invested money into the Blues - one season later, they were relegated to League One for the first time since the mid-1990s.

O’Neal, more commonly known by the mononym of ‘Shaq’, is considered to be one of the greatest Basketball player of all time. Over the course of his career, he won the NBA Championship four times, claimed an Olympic gold medal and was named the NBA MVP in 2000.

West Ham’s ownership currently consists of a consortium including David Sullivan, 1890s holdings A.S, Vanessa Gold (on behalf of the late David Gold’s family trust) and WHU LLC. Additionally, other investors make up 1.1% of the total ownership. As things stand, Sullivan has the largest stake in the club - he owns 38.8%.

Speaking to The Sun, an unnamed ‘source’ said: “Shaq loves British football and he has been talking about putting some serious cash into the club.

"He went to a game at the end of the season and loved it. It’s now a case of whether the financials stack up for him. Shaq is really interested in what deal he could strike.”