Leicester could face fresh PSR charge as Premier League seeks to account | Leicester City

Leicester could face another points deduction battle this season, with the club due to submit their 2023-24 accounts to the Premier League at the end of December to establish whether they have breached profitability and sustainability standards.

The league will apply a rule introduced last summer to investigate Leicester's finances as soon as possible after expressing “disappointment” at Tuesday's ruling by an independent commission into the club's three-year losses ending with the 2022-23 campaign. The three-person appeal panel ruled that the Premier League had There is no jurisdiction to charge Leicester For spending too much during the season, they were relegated because the club was in the EFL when the annual accounting period ended on 30 June.

Leicester had been charged with a PSR limits breach worth £24.4m, which according to the punishments given to Everton and Nottingham Forest Last season, the club would have lost up to seven points if found guilty. The sanctions for Everton and Forest were based on a tariff of a three-point deduction for breaching the rules and a further point for every £6.5m they went over the limit, before any deductions for co-operating or pleading guilty.

The Premier League is unlikely to appeal the commission's verdict but is preparing to take action against Leicester for potential overspending during the 2021-24 period because, according to the ruling published on Tuesday, they were a top-flight club at the end of their most recent accounting period on June 30, 2024.

Under PSR rules introduced last summer, the Premier League insists that clubs that made losses in the first two years of the three-year accounting period submit their accounts by December 31 so that any disciplinary action and points deductions can be imposed before the end of the season.

Leicester sources have expressed confidence they will not default despite their losses in the three years to June 2023 amounting to £129.4m, but the Premier League is still not convinced. The club’s accounts showed pre-tax losses of £92.5m and £90m in 2022 and 2023 respectively before Premier League deductions for infrastructure costs.

Leicester raised significant funds ahead of this summer’s June 30 PSR deadline by selling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea for £30m – in a deal they booked as a pure profit due to his status as a homegrown player – and received £30m in compensation for Enzo Maresca, who also moved to Stamford Bridge.

Top-flight clubs are usually limited to losses of £105m over a three-year period, but that threshold is reduced by £22m for each season a club has been in the Championship during the period, meaning Leicester's allowed losses will be £83m.

Despite the independent commission describing the PSR rules as “flawed”, the Premier League has no immediate plans to rewrite them because they are in the process of being phased out. The league has submitted evidence of the so-called Equipment cost control rules this season, under which clubs' spending on players, coaches and agents will be limited to a maximum of 85% of their football revenues and their net profit/loss on player sales.

The league hopes these rules will replace the PSRs next season. For clubs competing in Europe, the limit is 70%, in line with UEFA rules.