49ers could green-light huge squad overhaul as finance expert issues ‘£250m’ Leeds United claim
The Whites have collected a ‘jaw-dropping’ windfall from promotion, but the question over how much they can then spend remains to be answered until the summer deals start rolling in.
Leeds have plenty of quality already but it will not be enough to hit the ground running instantly in the top flight, meaning additions are paramount. Sales cannot be ruled out for PSR reasons, though, either.
They will want to retain as much quality is possible, but finances could dictate matters and Paraag Marathe can see players sold this summer. It’s not news they want to hear but there have been more positive noises since that statement.
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Stefan Borson is a finance expert for football, and he revealed on his substack that there is positive PSR news for Leeds and the other promoted teams from the Championship. That’s because PSR with promotion bonuses (circa. £20m) will be moved into the calculation for the 2025-26 season.
This is because promotion bonuses can be treated as expenditure in the following Reporting Period. Leeds are, therefore, in a more comfortable position. On top of that, Leeds United News’ football finance expert Adam Williams revealed exclusively recently that Daniel Farke’s Leeds side will be ‘one of the busiest’ teams in the country this summer.
However, he has since added further to the latest reveal from Borson. Speaking to LUN, he said: “This is definitely a relief for Leeds as it means they can push promotion bonuses into 2025-26, not 2024-25, where they have less headroom in terms of PSR.
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“It’s not a free hit, however, and they will still have to bear the costs of the bonuses. And because for both 2024-25 and 2025-26 they will have spent two of the last three seasons in the three-season monitoring period in the Championship, their PSR cap is set at £61 million for both.
“So it’s not a reprieve as such, more an administrative reorganisation that means they probably don’t need to do anything drastic before 30th June, which is when the next PSR assessment period begins.
“I still think Leeds will need to be really smart this summer. I think you could see one of the biggest squad overhauls of recent years of any club. Unlike last time around when they went up, the 49ers don’t seem to want to load the club with transfer debt.
“That means paying more upfront, which in turn means they might not be as liberal with how much they spend. That said, if they do want to go big this summer, there are levers they can pull to do that without breaching PSR.
“Because new signings are amortised over five years whereas sales profits hit the books immediately, a £50 million profit on player sales gives you £250 million worth of PSR headroom to spend on new signings in your first year in the Premier League.
“Again, it’s not a free hit. You still have to cover the amortised cost over the next five years, which means you might have to be more conservative in the transfer market next season. But I don’t think they will be forced into a sell-to-buy scenario by PSR per se.
“However, in terms of cash flow and the budget that the 49ers are willing to sanction, it’s probably a different story.”
Which players will Leeds United sell for the 2025/26 Premier League season?
Fringe and squad players are surely the likeliest to be sold this summer, especially those who are out of favour with Farke at the helm. Those include the likes of Darko Gyabi, Joe Gelhardt, and Sam Greenwood.
Max Wober, Patrick Bamford, and Illan Meslier all fall under that bracket in terms of first-team players who were part of the squad this season. However, players like Jack Harrison are also near-certain to be in line for a sale as well.
Leeds can and should still do what they can to raise funds for unwanted players, as they have already done with Rasmus Kristensen. They even booked a PSR profit on the Dane’s permanent exit to Eintracht Frankfurt.
If they are in a stronger position financially than first thought, then there is also more opportunity of retaining the services of the players who they can book hefty profits on, including Pascal Struijk, Willy Gnonto, Ilia Gruev, and Mateo Joseph.
On the topic of departures, it’s difficult to envisage a world where Leeds extend the contracts of many — if any — current players. Sam Byram and Josuha Guilavogui’s exits are set to be confirmed, while Junior Firpo may also follow.
