Chief Executive Angus Kinnear admits that Leeds United had to let some of their best players leave this summer.
Leeds were under the stringent Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and had to comply with financial limits after missing out on promotion to the Premier League.
Key Player Sales Boost Financial Position
The Whites earned a combined £110 million from the sales of Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter.
This extra cash was needed to stay within PSR rules as per the three-year losses limit.
The club was fine from a cash flow perspective, but not selling these players would have potentially put them in danger of breaking those PSR loss limits, similar to what Everton and Nottingham Forest faced last season.
Leeds United’s PSR Struggles
Leeds’ three year loss limit was reduced from £105 million in the Premier League to only £84 million when they were demoted to the Championship.
Such measures would have required extensive fiscal discipline.
The sale of Gray was especially useful as his academy status saw the entire sale price counted toward the PSR without any amortization.
Although the club would have complied with PSR even without the sales, Kinnear admitted that the player transfers made compliance easier.
He also highlighted how difficult it is for relegated clubs to adjust their finances under PSR rules due to a loss of Premier League TV revenue.
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