PREMIER LEAGUE clubs have agreed to push ahead with rules that would cap spending for the first time – despite opposition from Manchester United AND Manchester City.
A two hour “shareholder” meeting of the 20 clubs ended with an agreement that new regulations “anchoring” spending to the lowest earning Premier League side should be drafted ahead of the summer Annual General Meeting.
Manchester United are one of three clubs to have opposed the changeGetty
Man City and Man Utd were joined by Aston Villa in opposing the move, with Chelsea understood to have abstained.
And the players’ union has now publicly voiced its concerns over the impact.
The full measures remain to be confirmed by League legal experts.
But it is likely that clubs will be restricted to spending between 4.5 and five times the TV revenue of the lowest-paid club from 2025-25 – bottom-placed Southampton bagged £104m last term.
Clubs agreed to move to a “legal and economic analysis” of the concept – signalling the arguments of some clubs that restricting spending might be illegal.
The PFA has also stepped into the issue, with a warning that it would potentially fight the proposals.
A spokesman said: “We will obviously wait to see further details of these specific proposals, but we have always been clear that we would oppose any measure that would place a ‘hard’ cap on player wages.
“There is an established process in place to ensure that proposals like this, which would directly impact our members, have to be properly consulted on.”
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Champions City were the Prem’s biggest spenders last term, with a wage bill of £423m in addition to paying agents £51.5m and an “amortisation” sum of annual transfer instalments of £145m.
A cap of 4.5 times the bottom club’s income might have imperilled City and Chelsea last term – although until the full determination of what spending is included in the calculations that does NOT mean a breach would have occurred.
If agreed – a formal vote is now likely at the Harrogate AGM in June – the new measures would be introduced in “shadow” form next term, alongside a “squad cost ratio” format that links expenditure on wages and transfers to a maximum of 85 per cent of club revenues.
The sides playing in any of Uefa’s three competitions will be restricted to spending 70 per cent of their income from the start of 2025.
But the current Profitability and Sustainability Rules – which allow clubs to lose a maximum £105m over three seasons – will remain in force next season.
Some clubs urged that the limit – which has seen Everton and Nottingham Forest deducted points and Leicester facing a similar punishment next season – should be raised for next term but it was not widely supported.
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