Wolves have aims of progressing up the Premier League with Vitor Pereira at the helm, but unfortunately, supporters are aware of how difficult that is under the current ownership.
Pereira was heavily praised after dragging Wolves to Premier League survival in 2024/25, ending the campaign in 16th position and a whopping 17 points above the bottom three.
Heading into the 2025/26 season, Pereira has ambitions of finishing in mid-table, but as is normally the case, there are question marks over the lack of investment.
Wolves pocketed almost £100 million alone from the sales of Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri, yet only around £38 million of that has been spent on the additions of Fer Lopez and Jhon Arias.
Pereira has already warned Fosun about a shortage of ambition in the transfer window, with the Old Gold needing at least four more signings in key positions. Now, Molineux News has spoken to a finance expert about his thoughts on their current financial position.
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Fosun’s current stance on selling Wolves as PSR verdict shared
Fosun have always maintained a self-sustainable model, which focuses on generating cash from player sales and investing some of that into new signings.
Wolves are always unlikely to spend big, as the owners are unwilling to pump their capital into the club, and that has left many feeling frustrated.
Previously, there were talks of the Old Gold breaching profit and sustainability rules, yet in September 2024, chairman Jeff Shi claimed Wolves were never close to the line with PSR.
That is especially the case in 2025 after generating hundreds of millions in player sales, with finance expert Adam Williams shedding light on their current PSR situation to Molineux News.
“On a cash basis, Wolves just about broke even in 2023-24, which is the last financial year for which we’ve got the figures. And in terms of their PSR position, they’re in a better position than they were a couple of seasons ago,” Williams said.
“The sales in 2023-24 and a season of relative restraint in 2024-25 with respect to their net spend means that, when you add back PSR-exempt expenses, they were starting 2025-26 in a relatively strong position. With the Cunha and Ait-Nouri sales on top of that, they have plenty of immediate PSR headroom. The question is whether Fosun choose to use it.”
While the owners are unlikely to use the club’s strong PSR situation to their advantage, Williams also offered some insight into their stance on selling Wolves after Fosun sought fresh investment in 2024.
“We’re getting mixed signals from the owners in this respect. When they bought back the minority stake they sold to Peak6 a few years ago, it looked like they were clearing the decks with a view to a potential sale. That has been corroborated by some people in football finance outside the club, but Fosun’s line has always been that they are going nowhere.
“Jeff Shi has been a lot more active in the media recently too, which doesn’t suggest he’s priming the pump for a takeover. He’s also doubled down on his commercial vision for the club and his rhetoric has been about a broken system where owners such as themselves are required to lose money to compete on the pitch.
“To me, that hints that the owners don’t want to put any more money into the club besides what’s needed to retain their Premier League status and scale their investment commercially. See also: the attitude towards the women’s team and the stadium redevelopment.”
Wolves are ‘losing money’ on a day-to-day basis
The 2023/24 financial accounts were released at the start of the year, and Wolves lost £14.3 million during that campaign, an improvement from a loss of £67.2 million in the previous year.
A raft of player sales have helped improve that figure, but just like many clubs, Williams has stated that the Wanderers are ‘losing money’ on a day-to-day basis.
“On a day-to-day basis, they’re losing money,” he said. “I think they probably see player sales as a means of correcting that. If and when there are more new signings, they’ll be funded by the money already in the bank rather than Fosun injecting more cash themselves.
“Yes, there’s a new football structure, but the same funding model will continue to exist. It will be about finding efficiencies and making the most out of the budget that is there.”
Although Wolves’ recruitment team was overhauled following the arrival of technical director Domenico Teti, it doesn’t alter Fosun’s stance on selling players before being able to buy.