“Don’t expect them to spend big” – Finance expert issues clear Leicester City claim

The calendar year of 2024 has been a strange one as far as Leicester City have been concerned.

At the beginning of the year, it seemed that Enzo Maresca and his side would return to the Premier League relatively unscathed after just one season in the Championship, before all manner of speculation broke out at the King Power Stadium.

Reports regarding the club’s finances were rife from February onwards – a time which coincided with results on the pitch taking a significant dent, before the Italian was able to galvanise his squad to eventually secure the second tier title for a record eighth time, with one game to spare.

However, their preparations for that return to the top flight in August could be severely hampered due to a number of factors, including the club’s present financial situation.

Football Finance expert weighs in on Leicester City’s current financial landscape

Over the course of recent months, it has been reported that the club may have to offload high-profile names prior to June 30th, in order to comply with the EFL’s spending regulations, as well as ensuring they are in a position where they aren’t in danger of breaching PSR rules once again.

To get a feel about how the Foxes’ financial landscape will impact their Premier League preparations, Football League World spoke to Football Finance Expert, Dr Dan Plumley, who issued his stance on the situation.

“I think, certainly, you wouldn’t expect to see them spend massively,” Plumley began. “I think there’s potentially a couple of outgoings.”

“They have managed to keep hold of a relatively good squad in the Championship. Of course they managed to get Maddison and Barnes off the books to help with the wage bill.

“If we look at the numbers we can see – obviously we haven’t seen the 2024 numbers yet – but the revenue upswing from the return to the Premier League will be big, that will be nearing £100m. I know Leicester had parachute payments, but they’ll still be £60-70m up,” he continued.

“Before they got relegated, their wage bill and losses were high. They never expected to get relegated to be honest, and that hit them really hard.”

“I think it’s a bit of a transition now for Leicester. I think they’ll be targeting survival. Don’t expect them to spend big and there will probably be a couple of outgoings,” the expert continued.

Plumley concluded: “Now being back in the Premier League, they’re going to have already shown to the Premier League that they’re working within that regulatory framework. That’s the bit that we don’t know at the minute, in terms of where their overall number is at.”