Leicester City have announced record losses of £92.5million for the financial year ending May 2022, but insist their summer rebuilding plans remain on course.
Despite the eye-watering figures, Leicester are compliant with Financial Fair Play regulations and still preparing for a major revamp of the squad ahead of next season.
There will be some pressure to sell players in the short to medium term, but with high earners Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu and Ayoze Perez among a number of squad members out of contract in June, Leicester’s wage bill will be significantly lowered in the summer.
James Maddison, the England international, is also likely to be a target for a number of Premier League clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur, and could cost a minimum £60 million.
Leicester are owned by Thailand duty-free retail company King Power, and the huge losses for 2021/22 have been forecast for some time.
In a statement, the club said the vast majority of those losses was down to continued player investment and the decision not to sell any first-team stars in the summer of 2021. That year they spent around £50m by bringing in Boubakary Soumare, Patson Daka and Jannik Vestergaard as they prepared for a second successive year competing in European football.
Crucially, Leicester also refused to sell any of their stars in that summer, for the first time since winning the league title in 2016. N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell have all departed in recent years, but in the summer of 2021, Leicester made the decision to keep their squad together after winning the FA Cup.
Leicester did not sign an outfield player in the last summer transfer window until deadline day, recruiting Wout Faes by using some of the funds from Wesley Fofana’s £70m sale to Chelsea. Manager Brendan Rodgers signed three new players in January and those transfers were also possible with the Fofana money.
Leicester insist that commercial and sporting revenue figures are both on the up and there are no fears over breaching FFP rules. However, the club is fighting to avoid relegation from the Premier League and dropping into the Championship would clearly represent another massive financial blow.
Leicester’s chief executive, Susan Whelan, said: “King Power’s unwavering support of the club provides a secure position from which to capitalise on our opportunities. However, in order to remain compliant with the game’s regulations both domestically and in Europe – where we aim to compete regularly – our ongoing investment strategy must continue to reflect our underlying revenue progression.
“Our long-term ambition is to achieve this through on-pitch success, the commercial growth that comes with it and through the expansion of our stadium and the development of the associated masterplan. In the shorter term, as we look to continue to compete with more established opponents, profits from player trading and continued successful recruitment will continue to feature prominently in our strategy.
“This approach has served us well in the past, bolstering our capability to keep investing in the growth of the Club and forming a cornerstone of the most successful era in Leicester City’s history.”
Leicester, who are currently 15th in the table and two points above the relegation zone, host Chelsea at the King Power on Saturday.
Source: News