Based on a busy start to the summer with player swaps among a small group of clubs ahead of the June 30 deadline, as well as analysis of recent accounts from football finance experts, it was understood that the biggest clubs close to the limits of the PSR were Leicester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Everton.
Many of the deals ahead of the June 30 deadline involved local academy product players as they represent “pure profit” in PSR terms.
For example, a player signed for £80m on a four-year deal is essentially worth £20m for each year he plays for the club due to transfer fee amortization.
But the sale of an academic product, which typically costs little or, in most cases, nothing, can be included in a year’s reporting and is considered “pure profit.”
Villa were particularly active before the accounts deadline, selling Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz to Juventus and Omari Kellyman to Chelsea, while Blues defender Ian Maatsen moved in the opposite direction for a fee of around £35 million.
They needed to sell players to comply with the rules, having reported a loss of £119.6m in their accounts up to May 31, 2023.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said the club reluctantly allowed youngsters Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to join Nottingham Forest and Brighton respectively to continue delivering.
Howe made reference to the club’s summer transfer agreements in his press conference on Tuesday morning, when asked if the club was in danger of breaching the PSR.
“No, I don’t think we are [on that list]”, said.
“For us, the breach of financial fair play was something we fought very hard against in the summer to not be in that position, and that’s why the departures of those we didn’t want to happen had to happen.”
Chelsea, who spent £747 million on the 2022-23 season alone, sold their women’s team to the club’s parent company on June 28, 2024, two days before the end of their financial year, to improve their finances.
The Blues’ sale of two hotels next to Stamford Bridge to a sister company for a fee of £76.5m was approved by the Premier League in September.
