Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are all “at risk” of breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, a football finance expert has claimed.
Rob Wilson has called Chelsea “the biggest red flag” when it comes to the Premier League’s top clubs potentially being hit with charges for breaking Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). The Blues have spent over £1billion in transfers since Todd Boehly’s 2022 takeover.
As well as their signings falling short of making the desired impact on the pitch, the west Londoners are now in danger of breaking FFP rules. Reports in recent months claimed Chelsea made a pre-tax loss of £90.1m in the year up to June 30 2023, following a loss of £121.4m in the previous year’s accounts.
That means Boehly, who has already sought to drive down the wage bill by signing youngsters, needs to sell big this summer to avoid crossing the £105m PSR threshold for losses over a three-year period. Failure to adhere could be met with a points penalty in future seasons.
Wilson said to OLBG: “Chelsea are the biggest red flag in the division without question. In the last set of calculations, they will need to sell upwards of £125 million worth of talent by June 30 in order to comply with the regulations this summer.”
Premier League odds and betting tipsFFP expert Stefan Borson claimed earlier this month that Chelsea are now even looking to ease their financial pressures by selling their Cobham training ground to themselves, reports the Express.
Wilson went on to mention four more of the Premier League’s top eight clubs, saying: “Chelsea are out in front as the biggest red flags, and then you start coming down into a group of other teams. In that group are Manchester United, Aston Villa with Newcastle and Liverpool creeping in there.
“Liverpool have spent significantly on wages, then of course you have Manchester City in and around it as well. Anybody that has had ambitions for European competition have probably stretched the boundaries in the last couple of years which is why we had a quiet window in January.”
Aston Villa recorded huge losses of £120m last season, while Newcastle United also suffered a pre-tax deficit of £73m.
Renowned football finance blog Swiss Ramble ran the numbers on a new FFP system, expected to be implemented in time for next season, using the available financial figures from 2022/23. The report found that Liverpool would have only narrowly got within the new spending cap based on those figures, which ties transfer and wage expenditure to a club’s revenue.
Manchester United were also on the margins based on that report with a 3% leeway. Yet the Red Devils recently announced a reduced £5.6m pre-tax loss over the first six months of the season, easing concerns around their compliance with FFP rules, according to The Athletic.
The second quarter results cover the period until the end of December, with United having initially been handed a scare after posting a £32.8m pre-tax loss for the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year.
Wilson’s comments come at a time of growing concern among Premier League clubs over PSR breaches. That is the result of clubs this season feeling the full force of the league’s unprecedented clampdown.
Liverpool’s rivals Everton were handed a 10-point deduction for breaches in the 2021/22 season in November 2023, which was reduced to six points after a successful appeal. They were hit with another points deduction in April, amounting to two additional points docked and eight in total.
Relegation rivals Nottingham Forest were also met with a four point deduction this season for exceeding their permitted losses for the 2022/23 season by £34.5m. Forest had sought a reduction in their points penalty, claiming that Brennan Johnson’s £47.5m sale two months after the financial year ending in 2023 should have been taken into account, which an independent appeal board rejected.
World Cup hero wants Man Utd move as doubts over Harry Maguire's future growManchester City, in February 2023, were charged with breaking 115 PSR rules between 2009 and 2018. Each of the 115 individual charges will be heard by an independent panel, with the trial reportedly expected to begin in October.
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