Transfers, contracts and finances: What next for Leicester after promotion back to the Premier League? – Sky Sports
Football
Leicester secured promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt this season; Foxes secured the Championship title with a 3-0 win at Preston on Monday; however, Leicester face a PSR charge from the Premier League and must comply with EFL spending rules
Senior Reporter, Sky Sports News @RobDorsettSky
Tuesday 30 April 2024 18:37, UK
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In the last decade, Leicester City have won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Championship – twice. It’s never quiet at the King Power Stadium.
But their return to the top division this time feels like a vital step. Without this promotion, there were real concerns about Leicester’s financial future.
And so amid the joyous scenes of celebration with the owners, fans and players after securing the title with a 3-0 win at Preston on Monday, there was a tangible sense of relief in the Leicester ranks, too.
Leicester have proved they are the best team in the Championship, with a brand of possession-based football Enzo Maresca expects to be competitive in the Premier League, too.
He learned his trade as a disciple under Pep Guardiola, don’t forget – and he will relish the chance to pit his tactical wits against the best coaches in the world.
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Premier League relegation was not in the Leicester plan a year ago. Their wage bill was among the top eight in the division and they had ambitious plans to grow their commercial base in order to compete more equitably with the ‘big six’.
Five consecutive finishes inside the Premier League top 10, as well as two fifth-placed finishes – when late-season tail-offs meant they just missed out on the Champions League places – were testimony to where Leicester were in the hierarchy.
Preston 0-3 Leicester – report and highlights
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But then came the unexpected relegation. It hit hard. Leicester had to quickly return to English football’s top table, otherwise a huge refocusing of priorities was on the cards.
As it is, there are still major issues that Leicester have to address, despite promotion. Not least, the threat of a points deduction for next season, which could be imposed even before they kick a ball back in the Premier League.
Leicester will fight it, of course, and offer mitigation. But Nottingham Forest and Everton did the same and still got punished.
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The future of one of Leicester’s greatest players, Jamie Vardy, is up in the air, with his contract expiring this summer.
However, now that Leicester are back in the top division, it’s expected that Vardy will agree a new one-year extension in the coming days. At least that issue is one that can be quickly solved. The financial problems will take longer.
Not that Leicester are struggling financially. Quite the opposite – in King Power and Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, they have some of the richest and most supportive owners in English football.
The problems stem instead from an ambitious club with a relatively small commercial base, battling to stay within football’s spending rules.
Leicester were charged for breaching the top division’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in 2023, the season in which they were relegated.
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The tight timescales and complex rule differences between the Premier League and EFL meant they could not be punished this season but the expectation is that an independent commission will now be convened to hear the charge against the Foxes.
That will almost certainly mean a sporting sanction – the only real question is how big it will be and how much it will impact their return to the top division.
In addition, as part of a long-running dispute between the club and the EFL, it was announced in March that the Championship bosses wanted to impose business restrictions on Leicester, with their accounts predicting they were on course to also break the EFL spending rules this season.
Leicester argued they still have time to make sure they don’t breach the rules and, to that end, some quick player sales are on the cards.
In order for any income boost to arrive in time for Leicester to comply with the EFL rules, they have to sell before the end of their accounting period in June.
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Calculations have to be made about prize money and future TV revenue as a share of the Premier League pot. When each revenue stream comes in – whether it’s in this financial year or the next – is also crucial.
But player sales are inevitable and it is a distinct possibility that Leicester will sell their best player – Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – in the next two months.
As a graduate of Leicester’s academy, any transfer fee would be pure profit, which is why, of all the members of Leicester’s squad, Dewsbury-Hall is the most saleable – and their easiest way of solving their PSR concerns.
A number of Premier League clubs – including Brentford and Brighton – wanted to buy the midfielder in January but Leicester didn’t want to sell him then. They are determined not to let him go on the cheap, despite the pressures of timescale and the balance sheet.
Selling Dewsbury-Hall isn’t their only option – a number of Leicester’s players have impressed this season and are on the radars of other big clubs.
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But the sale of Dewsbury-Hall would solve Leicester’s PSR worries in one fell swoop, whereas closing the deficit by selling other players may be more problematic.
It should also be pointed out that Leicester’s successes in the past decade have all been based on clever recruitment and shrewd player trading.
The club has tended to sell one big player each summer in order to grow the squad elsewhere – think Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, N’Golo Kante, Harry Maguire, Wesley Fofana and Harvey Barnes.
It now looks increasingly likely Leicester will return to the model that has served them so well in the past.
A case in point is Abdul Fatawu. One of the stars of Leicester’s promotion this season, his rise is testimony to Leicester’s clever recruitment.
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Now they are promoted, Leicester have an obligation to buy Fatawu, making the winger’s loan permanent from Sporting for an expected £14.5m. That is a bargain.
The 20-year-old has caught the eye of at least three clubs in the Premier League and two Champions League teams, so Leicester have a decision to make about whether they cash in on him in order to strengthen elsewhere. Could Fatawu be bought and sold by Leicester in the same transfer window?
How much money Maresca will be able to spend on his squad in preparation for life back in the Premier League has yet to be seen. Leicester, as they have done so many times in the past, will need to uncover a few gems in the summer transfer market to get to where Maresca wants the squad to be.
It may be a difficult baptism for the Italian in his first season as a manager in the top flight, with his resources limited. After a tumultuous period in the club’s history, it may not be plain sailing from here.
But in the meantime, everyone at Leicester will celebrate a tremendous achievement, bouncing back to the promised land at the first attempt.
For the manager and key players like Harry Winks, Fatawu, Dewsbury-Hall, Stephy Mavididi and more, it is their first taste of silverware. They will savour their moment. But they know too that a much bigger challenge awaits.
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