United were thought to be under pressure to report Archie Gray’s £40 million sale to Tottenham Hotspur in last season’s accounts, for which the deadline passed on June 30.
However, due to Leeds’ efforts to conclude a transfer having begun before the deadline, the club can provide paperwork to the relevant authorities – the Premier League and EFL – allowing them to backdate their July 2 sale to the 2023/24 accounting period.
Nottingham Forest were hit with a four-point deduction last season having previously breached the Premier League’s financial regulation controls. The club were unsuccessful in an appeals process to have the deduction chalked off, or at least reduced, as they battled against relegation from the top flight.
Part of Forest’s argument hinged upon the sale of Brennan Johnson, who joined Tottenham Hotspur in a £47.5 million transfer on September 1, 2023 – deadline day of last summer’s window.
The Midlands club argued ‘the sale of Johnson shortly after the PSR assessment period had ended should have been regarded as a mitigating factor at the initial hearing, back in March, as they had constantly kept the Premier League informed of their intention to sell the academy product to keep them the right side of loss limits’, according to a report in The Athletic earlier this year.
A crucial difference in this move compared to Gray’s Spurs switch is Leeds have concluded their business within 48 hours of the PSR accounting deadline having passed. In Forest’s case, Johnson’s sale took two months.
Forest also made attempts to argue their case was not so different from Sheffield Wednesday’s successful appeal to the EFL in 2019. The Owls were charged with breaching PSR but successfully argued against their sanction on the basis that Wednesday had sold their Hillsborough Stadium to owner Dejphon Chansiri for £60 million one year prior, demonstrating a means of complying with financial controls.
The deal in question was not ratified until 17 days after the relevant accounting period but Leeds’ Yorkshire rivals successfully argued the deal was a ‘significant mitigating factor’ and consequently escaped punishment.
Given how promptly Leeds announced Gray’s departure after the accounting deadline, coupled with Wednesday’s 17-day precedent with the EFL and the difference in circumstance to Johnson’s Spurs move, it remains unlikely the club will be hit with a sanction.
Moreover, Leeds would only be penalised if they were found to have breached their £83 million loss threshold over the accounting period July 2021 to June 2024, which is not expected to be definitively ascertained until the New Year when the club’s 2023/24 accounts are released to the public.
