Clubs learn from 'previous excesses' for PSR deadline

One weekend in late June last year, fans of a number of Premier League clubs may have found themselves frantically searching the name of their latest signing - a young prospect from another English side, bought for a surprisingly large fee.

Several inexperienced players moved between top-flight sides in separate deals - with the accusation that these were swaps, made to satisfy the demands of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) at the end of the accounting year on 30 June.

Yet this year such deals haven't made a reappearance, with only a limited number of clubs doing transfer business prior to the end of the month and very few involving homegrown players.

So which clubs have made signings, and what was all the fuss about last year?

PSR losses are limited to £105m over a three-year period.

Clubs have to submit their accounts by 30 June, the end of the Premier League's financial year - effectively its accounting deadline.

So for clubs looking to boost their finances the end of June is vital for making sure any incomings can be added to that year's accounts.

When a club sells a player, any profit is recorded in its entirety in that year's accounts, with homegrown academy players generating 'pure' profit.

In contrast, the amount paid by the buying club is spread out - using an accounting practice called amortisation - over the length of the contract.

If clubs aren't making last-ditch transfers this June it's because they have learned from their "previous excesses", football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Sport.

Last June, in the days leading up to the end of the month about £245m was spent on academy graduates.

Tim Iroegbunam and Lewis Dobbin were exchanged in separate deals between Everton and Aston Villa for a reported £9m each.

Another academy youngster - teenager Omari Kellyman - moved to Chelsea for a reported £19m from Villa, while the Blues' homegrown Dutch defender Ian Maatsen joined Unai Emery's side for £37.5m.

"Clubs are aware that the Premier League's rules have teeth, they didn't want to be in that position where they were scrabbling around in terms of player sales," explained Maguire.

"First of all you might lose players you'd rather keep, and secondly the prices wouldn't necessarily be in your own best interest.

"Clubs have learned from previous excesses, and on the back of that we've seen a greater degree of caution in terms of spending.

"Clubs are now waiting for 1 July, when, to an extent, things roll over because it's a new financial year and they'll have a different budget," Maguire added.

Only a handful of Premier League transfers have been completed, although more than £300m was spent in June.

Very few of these transfers have involved homegrown players and also in contrast to last year there have been no deals done on the last day of the month.

The last time a top-flight team spent money on a transfer came on Thursday, when Liverpool signed Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth for £40m.

The champions have been the big spenders of the past two weeks, also adding German star Florian Wirtz for £100m from Bayer Leverkusen, while Wolves spent £19m on forward Fer Lopez from Celta Vigo and Bournemouth picked up Adrien Truffert for £14.4m.

Manchester United signed Matheus Cunha from Wolves for £62.5m, and Leeds, Brighton and Burnley have also signed players from Europe for undisclosed or small fees.

Kerkez was the only fee paid by a Premier League for a player already in the division - that stands in contrast to the last week of June 2024, when a number of deals were made between English clubs for large sums of money.

Chelsea have agreed a £60m deal with Brighton for Brazilian forward Joao Pedro, and that deal could be included in their 2024-25 accounts, with rules allowing transfers where a sale has been agreed in principle.