Finance expert fires warning after what Leeds United just did in the transfer window — YEP 22/8/25
By Mark Carruthers
Leeds United continued to strengthen their squad with the
signing of AC Milan forward Noah Okafor.
Leeds United have taken their summer transfer spending close
to £100 million after completing the signing of AC Milan star Noah Okafor on
Thursday.
Since securing promotion into the Premier League via their
dramatic Championship title win, the Elland Road hierarchy have backed manager
Daniel Farke with the Switzerland international becoming the ninth new addition
to the Whites squad since the end of last season.
A new goalkeeper was brought in after a deal was agreed for
Lyon stopper Lucas Perri and defensive additions arrived in the form of Jaka
Bijol, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Sebastiaan Bornauw. The midfield was bolstered
by the signings of Sean Longstaff and Anton Stach and strikers Dominic
Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha arrived on free transfers, with the latter
making an immediate impact by scoring the only goal in Monday’s home win
against Everton.
After completing his own move to Elland Road on Thursday,
Okafor has become the second costliest addition of the Whites window spend and
he will hope to receive clearance to feature in Saturday’s tough looking trip
to Premier League title contenders Arsenal.
Leeds United transfer spending the norm
Leeds are not the only newly promoted club to have provided
a significant outlay in their preparations for their return to the top flight
with Sunderland spending around £140 million on 12 new signings and Burnley
have spent around £108 million on 13 additions to Scott Parker’s squad. Finance
expert Adam Williams has delivered his take on the trio’s summer spending and
praised the business undertaken by Leeds as chairman Paraag Marathe lives up to
his promise to spend up to the club’s PSR limit.
Williams told TBR Football: “Whereas a promoted club
spending close to £100m would have been an event in and of itself a few years
ago, it is becoming the norm nowadays. You’re guaranteed at least £110m in TV
money in season one, plus another £90m or so in parachute payments if you go
down.
“And because of the gulf between the divisions competitively
and financially, you increasingly need to spend all of that money to be able to
give yourself a fighting chance of staying up. We don’t have Leeds 2024-25
accounts yet, but their wage bill was probably something like £60m, compared to
mid-table Premier League clubs who are spending north of £150m. And that’s
Leeds’ total as a parachute payment club with the strongest core revenues in
the second tier – for other sides promoted from the Championship, the financial
chasm is even greater.”
Leeds United need transfer caution
He continued: “Paraag Marathe has said Leeds will spend up
to the limit of what is allowed under PSR, though whether that means on a
season-by-season basis or over certain cycles isn’t clear. If you spend the
absolute maximum one season, you give yourself no room for manoeuvre the next
and you have to drastically adjust.
“Lurching from one extreme to the other like that isn’t good
for any club, so I expect the 49ers are zooming out on the graph and looking at
things on a multi-year basis. Leeds can only lose £60m over the three-season
period up until the end of the current season, so PSR is an anchor in that
respect.
“I suspect that they probably feel they could spend more
this summer without worrying about a breach for the assessment period up to the
end of 2025-26, but then where does that leave you in 2026-27 if you’re
relegated? That’s the balancing act.”