Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is the major sales object among Leicester players. His value is set to £30million by other clubs that looks interested. Brighton looks the most obivious, but also Spurs, Man Utd, Liverpool, Brentford, Fulham and Man City all showing interest. The major problem for Leicester is that a move would be best to happen before 1st of July as you get the sale done and completed in this years annuals.
This is not a new situation for the club, off loading their best players one by one, but the major difference in this one is that the player himself is not really interested in a move, and really sad to see a player leave on such terms.
The situation is simple and easy, Leicester cannot get a fee of £35million or more for anyone else in this squad and to sell players such as Harry Souttar, Bouba Soumare and Victor Kristiansen at a low price will see a negative balance and the loss must be carried either in the books of this annual or the next. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall does not carry any value in the financial books, coming up from the academy. Kasey McAteer is another player in this category. He could also be player that in full would help the current financial situation. We have seen Spurs linked with the promising flank man.
The fact that Leicester have triggered the permanent signing of Abdul Fatawu, with his promotion clause being reached, makes it obvious that fresh funds must be freed up to get this signing done. Conor Coady and Mads Hermansen also triggered lower sums with such an achievement reached.
The current situation is an on going process at this football club, selling one major asset with little or no value carried in the financial books. The transfer fee of each player will be downwritten on their contract length. Looking at Bouba Soumare, Victor Kristiansen and Harry Souttar, all three being seen as players that would like a move, it all looks very difficult.
Harry Souttar cost, £15million. Victor Kristiansen, £13,1million. Both contracts are running until june 2028. This is like peeing your pants, as the transfer value will be written down on a five and a half year plan. They are valued far below their transfer fees at this time, and if you decide to sell either of these players in this summer transfer window, you need to get almost the same value as you paid, if not, you have to register a loss and get even more negativity in your financial statement.
Souttar and Kristiansen looks stuck at Leicester, with possible loan moves as the only option. It would be a surprise to see anyone paying the fees needed to go in balance. Loan moves could happen, seeing fees of £1million each, at the most. That will hopefully be what is needed to cover the loan cost.
Looking at the Bouba Soumare situation, and his possible move out this summer, a full transfer looks far from happening. No club in Spain, Italy or Germany, besides the top clubs, are able to pay what Leicester need in a transfer fee. Bouba Soumare joined Leicester from Lille for a fee of £17million in 2021, starting his depreciation at the latest from January 2022, with a linear plan of 5 years, running until December 2027. The same situation does appear for Patson Daka, joining for a fee of £23million.
The fact that you have transfer windows and also having players transfer fees as part of the value in your books, with a depreciations plan in there, makes some interesting aspects to look at. Leicester have put themselves in a very tricky situation as you could be better off by letting the player leave on a free at the end of his contract. If you are selling the player with a loss or not reaching the depreciated value, you will have to show this in your statement. If you are in a financial negative state, this will make it worse regarding FFP and PSR. Bouba Soumare, Harry Souttar, Victor Kristiansen and Patson Daka were all signed for fees far above their current values. Leicester needs to sell for a fee higher than their current book value, or go for transfers of other assets to avoid another blow and make the FFP and PSR problems even bigger.
We hope and believe the club have a business plan put together for the future that will see such errors in transfer dealings a long gone. The major problem in all of this is the eagerness of football managers to get points on board and overlooking the aspect that every new player bought, needs to grow and become better, so his value reaches a level above the price paid. If you ignore this, your football business will be challenged by FFP and PSR.
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