Football Finance and Funding Thread 2021 - post Messi to PSG and COVID spending

DM_7

Thread to discuss finance and funding of European Football clubs in summer 2021.

If making claims about a teams funding please provide sources and reputable links to back up any assertions.

Football financing:

While three domestic clubs were endeavouring to progress in European Football preliminary rounds, to earn a reported collective 900K, football fans are still trying to get their heads around the staggering wages to be paid to Messi at PSG. The club, headed by Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Chairman and CEO of Paris Saint-Germain and UEFA executive committee member, insist that the signing of Messi is within the FFP rules (as per their commercial, financial and legal people).

Messi's move comes on the back of significant COVID impact on clubs, with a combined revenue of European clubs declined by £3.4bn (see Deloitte info below) and a further reduction in the wage cap for La Liga clubs. While PSG are an outlier within their own country and we see clubs across major leagues make significant adjustments many premier league clubs, underpinned by significant TV revenue and certain clubs with significant backing of owners spending significant transfers fees, lead by Man City and Chelsea both signing players for a value above the previous highest transfer fee paid by and English club.

Some info on funding as per Deloitte:

https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/annual-review-of-football-finance.html

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/29/european-football-clubs-revenue-declines-by-34bn-over-pandemic

The pandemic led to a rare decline in the financial firepower of European football during 2019-20, according to a report that charts how Covid-19 has affected the hierarchy of the continental game.

The combined revenue of European clubs declined by £3.4bn to £22bn, according to the Deloitte Annual Review of Finance, with even the “Big Five” leagues – in England, Spain, German, France and Italy – feeling the pinch.

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It was the first decline in European football revenue since the global financial crisis in 2008-09, although wage costs remained flat, putting pressure on club finances.

DM_7

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/58197336.amp

Has Covid created a Super League?

It's different approaches," Tim Bridge, director at Deloitte's Sports Business Group told the BBC's The Sports Desk podcast. "Certain clubs have really used it as an opportunity.

"In the case of Manchester City and PSG, with notably wealthy backers, it feels to me like they feel more comfortable continuing as normal because they almost have a little bit of a security net.

"Manchester United have really used it as an opportunity. They've thought, well, we might have had to pay over £100m for Jadon Sancho. This summer, we can do it for £70m-plus. We have access to the funding. Let's do it now."

Arsenal have spent £50m on Brighton defender Ben White, Spurs have paid nearly £70m for Cristian Romero, winger Bryan Gil and goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini, while Leicester have bought striker Patson Daka and midfielder Boubakary Soumare.

Villa have spent the Grealish money on Leon Bailey, Danny Ings and record signing Emi Buendia. But beyond that, spending has been limited - the biggest Premier League transfer otherwise this summer is Marc Guehi's £18m move from Chelsea to Crystal Palace.

According to the Transfermarkt website, only 31 deals in excess of £5m have been completed in this transfer window.

"The Jack Grealish signing pumped £100m into the industry," said Bridge. "That normally creates a domino effect and we would see the money go from club to club to club as the transfer spending happens.

"What's going to happen this summer and probably for the foreseeable future, is that the line of dominoes is much shorter because you will reach a point where a club needs cash to survive. Rather than going out and reinvesting it in players, they just stop."