Wolves are in a position where they could replicate a PSR loophole identified by Leicester City.
The Old Gold had a successful summer in the transfer window, welcoming eight new signings to Gary O’Neil’s project.
It was a relief for Wolves to end the summer having only parted ways with two key players, given the nature of the 2023 window at Molineux.
The sales of Pedro Neto, Max Kilman and squad player Daniel Podence accumulated around £100m, helping the club to better navigate their finances after a trialling few years.
Despite not being at risk of breaching PSR, it’s still likely that the club will post a loss in 2024/25, something that they have the room to do – read more below.
- READ MORE: Football finance expert explains exactly where Wolves stand with PSR after player sales this summer
Premier League clubs alerted to Leicester City’s PSR escape
Something else that Wolves could miraculously have the capacity to do is replicate a PSR loophole that Leicester City identified after exceeding the PSR threshold.
The Foxes recorded three-year rolling losses of £129m, which was £24m over the Premier League’s spending cap
Molineux News spoke to Adam Williams, TBR’s Head of Football Finance and Governance Content to get a better understanding of how Leicester City got the better of the Premier League.
“Essentially, Leicester City got off on a technicality because earlier in the year they pushed back their year-end accounting date from 30 May to 30 June.
“All 20 clubs have one share each in the Premier League and the three relegated clubs transfer their shares to the promoted teams at the end of the season.
“Leicester had already transferred their share before 30th June, so they successfully argued that they were no longer under the Premier League’s jurisdiction when the breach technically occurred.
“That’s perhaps an oversimplification, but that is the basis of the appeal board’s ruling.”
How Wolves can repeat Leicester’s PSR loophole
You may be asking what this has to do with Wolves, with the matter being what it could mean for the club given the Old Gold’s position.
Williams went on to give a theoretical explanation to how the Midlands club could replicate Leicester’s PSR loophole next summer.
“I think that one interesting thing that Wolves’ top brass will have noted from the whole saga will be that they could – in theory – pull the same lever.
“They are one of only three Premier League clubs with a 30 May year-end accounting date.
“The other two are Arsenal and Liverpool, who you would suspect are insulated from relegation.
“Wolves don’t have that luxury. So if they did happen to be over the PSR threshold and they were relegated at the end of the season, they could do a Leicester and repeat this trick.
“This is purely theoretical. And in reality, the Premier League will close this loophole as soon as they can.
“But it does highlight another reason that many think the PSR system is not fit for purpose.”
Wolves would have to get relegated in order for the loophole to be repeated in the Premier League, making the season ahead all the more interesting from a financial point of view.