Credit: Imago

Matthew Chadder

Sat 1 July 2023 7:31, UK

When football fans think of deadline day, they think of Jim White on Sky Sports News wearing a yellow tie in late August or, sometimes, the start of September.

For football clubs themselves, a different deadline day has become increasingly relevant, and it isn’t accompanied by a countdown clock with Sky Sports reporters scattered around the country.

This one is more of a financial deadline day and falls on 30 June. One which Daniel Levy played delightfully to his advantage.

The football financial year typically runs from 1 July to 30 June and the new ‘deadline day’ comes as one final opportunity for clubs to enhance their accounts for the year through player sales.

Clubs who overspend and see too much red in the financial reports are those who will be most concerned as they run the risk of breaking financial fair play rules. Premier League clubs must lose no more than £105million during a three-year-rolling period or they will find themselves in breach of the rules.

Completing business before 30 June therefore becomes important for those with their backs against the wall while sides like Tottenham, who are at no risk of any FFP breaches, can use it for future planning. Improving the financial accounts this year will give them more scope to spend over the coming years.

The opposite could be said for sides such as Chelsea and Everton however and as per The Athletic (29 June), Chelsea account for half of the £250million already raised through player sales across the Premier League as they desperately scramble to balance the books before the deadline.

Levy was well aware of this scenario and the situation Leicester found themselves in during the James Maddison sale and used it rather brilliantly to his advantage.

Due to relegation from the Premier League, Leicester suddenly found themselves in a spot of financial bother which the Tottenham chairman was particularly kind to assist with. Knowing the club were in trouble and desperate to sell, Levy was able to strike a £40million deal with the Foxes for their star man despite the club valuing him higher, and him perhaps being worth more.

Spurs were involved in another similar situation last year. After Everton had seen losses of £373million over the previous three financial years, the club were quick to sell star striker Richarlison for £50million in a deal that was completed on 30 June (The Athletic). On this occasion, Spurs were not so much the beneficiaries, however, with the Brazillian not yet living up to his price tag.

As long as the rules stay the same, you can expect to see plenty more of these opportunistic buys from Levy over the coming years, with the savvy businessman always keen on a good deal.

In other Tottenham news, this is another reason why the Maddison deal was a financial win for Spurs.