Transfers, Contracts and Finances: What Happens Next for Leicester After Being Promoted Back to the Premier League?

In the last decade, Leicester City has won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Championship twice. It’s never quiet at the King Power Stadium.

But their return to the top flight appears to be a crucial step this time. Without this promotion there were real concerns about Leicester’s financial future.

And so, amidst the jubilant scenes of celebration from the owners, fans and players after securing the title with a 3-0 win at Preston on Monday, there was also a palpable feeling of relief within the Leicester ranks.

Leicester have proven they are the best team in the Championship, with a possession style of football that Enzo Maresca expects to be competitive in the Premier League too.

He learned his trade as a student of Pep Guardiola, not to mention – and he will relish the chance to test his tactical skills against the best coaches in the world.

Relegation to the Premier League was not on the agenda for Leicester a year ago. Their payroll was among the top eight in the division and they had ambitious plans to expand their commercial base to compete more equally with the ‘big six’.

Five consecutive finishes in the Premier League’s top 10, as well as two fifth-place finishes – when end-of-season setbacks saw them narrowly miss out on the Champions League places – were testament to where Leicester stood in the hierarchy.

But then came the unexpected decline. It hit hard. Leicester needed to get back to the top of English football quickly or face a huge realignment of priorities.

As it stands, despite promotion, there are still major issues that Leicester need to address. Not least the threat of a points deduction for next season, which could be imposed before they even throw a ball back into the Premier League.

Leicester will of course fight against it and remedy the situation. But Nottingham Forest and Everton did the same and were still punished.

The future of one of Leicester’s greatest players, Jamie Vardy, is uncertain as his contract expires this summer.

However, with Leicester now back in the top flight, Vardy is expected to agree to a further one-year extension in the coming days. At least this problem can be solved quickly. The financial problems will last longer.

Not that Leicester have any financial problems. Quite the opposite – in King Power and Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha they have some of the richest and most supportive owners in English football.

Rather, the problems stem from an ambitious club with a relatively small commercial base struggling to comply with football’s spending rules.

Leicester have been charged with breaching the top flight’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in 2023, the season in which they were relegated.

The tight schedules and complex rule differences between the Premier League and EFL meant they could not be punished this season, but an independent commission is now expected to be set up to examine the charges against the Foxes.

That will almost certainly mean a sporting sanction – the question is how big it will be and what impact it will have on their return to the top flight.

Additionally, in March, as part of a long-running dispute between the club and the EFL, it was announced that Championship bosses wanted to impose business restrictions on Leicester, with their accounts predicting they were on track to also breach EFL spending rules to violate this season.

Leicester argued they still had time to ensure they did not break the rules and some quick player sales were planned to that end.

For an income boost to arrive in time and for Leicester to comply with EFL rules, they must sell before the end of their accounting period in June.

Calculations must be made about prize money and future TV income in relation to the Premier League pot. It is also crucial when the individual sources of income come in – be it in this or the next financial year.

But player sales are inevitable and there is a distinct possibility that Leicester will sell their best player – Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – in the next two months.

As a graduate of the Leicester academy, any transfer fee would be pure profit, which is why Dewsbury-Hall is the most sellable of any member of the Leicester squad – and their easiest option to solve their PSR problems.

A number of Premier League clubs – including Brentford and Brighton – wanted to buy the midfielder in January, but Leicester did not want to sell him at the time. They are determined not to let him go under pressure despite the time and balance sheet pressure.

Selling Dewsbury-Hall isn’t their only option – a number of Leicester players have impressed this season and are on the radar at other big clubs.

But selling Dewsbury-Hall would solve Leicester’s PSR woes in one fell swoop, whereas closing the deficit by selling other players could be more problematic.

It should also be noted that Leicester’s successes over the last decade have all been based on shrewd recruitment and shrewd player trading.

The club tends to sell a big player each summer to expand the squad elsewhere – think Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, N’Golo Kante, Harry Maguire, Wesley Fofana and Harvey Barnes.

It now looks increasingly likely that Leicester will return to the model that has served them so well in the past.

A case in point is Abdul Fatawu. As one of the stars of Leicester’s promotion this season, his rise is testament to Leicester’s astute recruitment.

Now that they are promoted, Leicester are committed to buying Fatawu, making the winger’s loan from Sporting permanent for a reported £14.5m. That’s a bargain.

The 20-year-old has attracted the attention of at least three Premier League clubs and two Champions League teams, meaning Leicester will have to make a decision about whether they will capitalize on him to strengthen elsewhere. Could Fatawu be bought and sold by Leicester in the same transfer window?

How much money Maresca can spend on preparing his squad for a return to the Premier League remains to be seen. Leicester, as they have done so many times in the past, will need to discover some gems in the summer transfer market to get to where Maresca wants the squad to be.

It could be a difficult baptism for the Italian in his first season as coach in the top flight as his resources are limited. After a turbulent time in the club’s history, things may not be so easy from here.

But in the meantime, everyone at Leicester will celebrate a tremendous achievement and return to the promised land at the first attempt.

For the manager and key players such as Harry Winks, Fatawu, Dewsbury-Hall, Stephy Mavididi and others, it is the first taste of trophies. You will enjoy your moment. But they also know that a much bigger challenge awaits them.

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