Premier League clubs avoid PSR charges for 2023/24 but one team still at risk

Both Everton and Nottingham Forest were charged with breaches of PSR around this time last year

Chris Wilson
Tuesday 14 January 2025 11:11 GMT
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The Premier League has clamped down on over-spending in recent years
The Premier League has clamped down on over-spending in recent years (Getty Images)

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All 20 Premier League sides have avoided charges relating to Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for the 2023/24 season after the league deemed every club to have been financially compliant.

PSR stipulates that clubs cannot post losses of more than £105m over a three-year period, with most clubs required to submit their accounts for the 2023/24 season by 31 December.

This year, the Premier League has adjudged that all clubs have adhered to the rules – in 2024, the league charged both Everton and Nottingham Forest with PSR breaches, with the Merseyside club later being given an eight-point reduction, while Forest were docked four points.

More recently, Leicester City avoided a points deduction after they won an appeal agains their own charge in September, with an independent panel finding that the league did not have the jurisdiction to punish the club as they had fallen into the Championship last season.

However, this is still “the subject of confidential arbitration proceedings” according to a joint-statement from the club and the league. Leicester were one of several clubs who were reported to have been close to going over the permitted loss amounts.

And perhaps the most well-known case of alleged PSR breaches relates to Manchester City, who were charged with seven breaches of the rules between 2015/16 and 2017/18. The hearing into the case concluded in December, with the verdict expected some time in the spring.

PSR was introduced to the league in 2013/14 as the Premier League’s own version of Uefa’s ‘Financial Fair Play’ rules. It remains particularly prominent during the January transfer window, as clubs look for cut-price deals to add to their squads while staying within spending limits.

While teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are hoping to do business this month, it looks as though clubs will find it difficult to obtain their top targets unless they can offload players, with asking prices soaring during the winter window.

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