THE finance of football is becoming just as important and high-profile as what happens on the pitch these days.
Every fan wants to know how much money their club can splash on transfers and whether they are at risk of a dreaded points deduction.
With the end of the 2024/25 accounting period for 15 of the 20 Prem clubs on the horizon, intrigue in clubs’ financial situations is growing.
The Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) dictate that every club is allowed to record a maximum loss of £105m over a three-year rolling period.
Those figures exclude spending on certain areas of the club such as investments in youth development, women’s football and infrastructure, but are the limits for the majority of spending.
Breaching those rules can result in hefty points deductions and fines – as evidenced by Everton’s two points penalties during the 2023/24 season
Now The Athletic have figured out an estimate for just how much wiggle room each team has to avoid a PSR breach – outlining the figure each club can afford to register in pre-tax losses across the 2024/25 season.
The estimates are good news of Manchester United, who many thought would be in dire financial straits after missing out on European football for the first time since 2015.
It’s estimated that United can lose over £140million, perhaps explaining their decision to splash out on Matheus Cunha already and their plans for a move for Bryan Mbeumo.
That surprisingly large figure is born out United’s PSR position being calculated using the accounts of Red Football Limited (RFL), rather than Manchester United PLC.
RFL, which is a subsidiary of PLC, posts significantly smaller losses than the PLC company as a whole – partly because it does not include any costs borne by the PLC as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority takeover.
While it also benefits from the structuring of loans within the Manchester Untied Group as a whole.
RFL’s pre-tax loss across the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons was £55.1m, and United’s loss limit across the three-year PSR cycle is £105m following Ratcliffe’s injections of equity in 2024.
United are considered as “safe” from PSR punishment by The Athletic, alongside a whole host of other top clubs.
Perhaps shockingly, mega-spenders Chelsea are thought to have the biggest margin for loss – boasting a £300m safety blanket despite splashing out on signings in recent seasons.
The intra-group sales of hotels, car parks and their OWN women’s team have allowed the Blues to keep their books in a positive place – as shown by their early spending on Liam Delap.
Brighton, Man City and Tottenham are all also thought to have in excess of £275m of breathing space.
Arsenal, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest are thought to be safe too, with each club having over £85m worth of space to lose.
Newcastle United, Leeds, Everton and Burnley are all thought to be in slightly riskier positions, but should be fine if they approach things carefully.
While Aston Villa are the only club who are at serious risk of facing PSR punishment with just £15m of allowable losses.
Villa, who missed out on Champions League football on the final day of the season, have lost £206.2million pre-tax in the past two seasons, the highest deficit in the Premier League in that time.
Unai Emery’s team will have to sell this summer if they want to avoid a breach, with missing out on the Champions League hitting their accounts big time.
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