Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has voiced his concerns over the distortion of the transfer market by the wealthiest clubs.
In a statement that accompanied Spurs' financial results for 2021/22, a period where revenues rose from £361.9m to £440m and the club's post-tax losses fell from £83.8m to £50.1m, Levy took aim at the spending of sovereign wealth and consortia financed clubs for their transfer approach while acknowledging his own team's failures in recruiting, such as £55m flop Tanguy Ndombele.
Like Liverpool under Fenway Sports Group, Spurs under the ownership of ENIC have taken a more business focused approach, the club having put a great deal of emphasis and funds behind the £1bn new stadium that they hope will provide them with the scope for revenue generation and growth for years to come. The aim behind that was to grow revenues to a point where the club could compete on a sustainable footing through the money that comes through the business, but with the landscape in the Premier League changing and the value of players in the market ever increasing, Levy had a warning over 'unsustainable' spending.
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"The landscape of the Premier League has changed significantly in the last decade," said the Spurs chairman.
"It is understandable that some fans call for more spending, much of which is unsustainable for many clubs. We are competing in a league in which we have seen increased sovereign wealth ownership and consortia finances; and in a league where the spending power is now vested in the hands of a few who dominate and have the ability to distort the market."
Levy's comments come at a time when both Manchester City and Newcastle United are owned by groups with strong connections to Gulf nation governments, and Manchester United being in the scope of Qatari investors with heavy links to sovereign wealth funds and government. Chelsea, taken over by American Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital last summer, have been changing the rules of engagement in the transfer market and spending more than £500m on transfers since they arrived, spreading the amortised costs of their acquisitions on the balance sheet over long contracts so as to sail underneath Financial Fair Play regulations, something that UEFA have now acted upon by limiting deal lengths to five years as of later this year.
Spurs are open to minority investment, too, and also understood to be willing to listen to any expressions of interest over a full takeover. The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Iranian/American billionaire Jahm Najafi and his firm MSP Sports Capital, who had been in talks with Everton over investment, were readying themselves to make a £3.1bn bid for the North London club.
FSG, having seen the Chelsea interest last summer and with some minority partners potentially ready to cash out, decided to test the market with regards to interest in a bid to recapitalise the business. They are yet to receive any bids or formal expressions of interest that have warranted serious discussions.
But Levy's comments point to the problems that FSG themselves face with Liverpool, where achieving success in line with the strength of the business has become more challenging with the changing landscape of ownership groups and the likely continued push of transfer values and wages even higher. Finding a way to tweak the model that currently exists and remain profitable businesses while competing with contrasting approaches is a major task both for Spurs and Liverpool.
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