'Almost certain' - Premier League points deduction claim made after Newcastle United £68m boost

Newly-promoted Leicester City are ‘almost certain’ to face a points deduction this coming season, according to The Sun. This is due to The Foxes breaching Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

Leicester argued against a 2022-23 breach due to their relegation to the Championship only for an independent commission to rule in favour of the Premier League. According to the report, the East Midlands club, who secured an immediate return to the top flight by winning the Championship last season, could now be facing a 10 point deduction or more, pending a successful appeal.

Leicester were charged with a PSR breach back in March having submitted ‘allowable losses’ over the £105million PSR threshold for a three-year period. But complications arose due to Leicester competing in the Championship at the time as it was argued that Premier League PSR rules could not apply to a club not in the top flight.

However, an independent Commission ruled that the Premier League would be able to apply disciplinary proceedings to the club.

A Premier League spokesman said: “An independent Commission has dismissed a challenge by Leicester City FC that it has no jurisdiction to consider an alleged breach of Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSRs).

“In March, the Premier League referred the club to the independent Commission for the alleged breach. Leicester City subsequently challenged the Commission’s authority to hear the case.

“The alleged breach relates to the PSRs for Season 2022-23, when the club was a member of the Premier League.”

A formal hearing will take place early in the 2024-25 campaign with Leicester have already announced plans to appeal the decision.

This comes after Nottingham Forest and Everton were deducted four and eight points respectively for breaching PSR last season. Newcastle United were also understood to be close to being the wrong side of the PSR threshold before the accounting deadline of June 30.

The Magpies were able to raise £68million with the sales of Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson to Brighton and Forest respectively as well as agree a compensation fee with Manchester United for Dan Ashworth on the final day of PSR calculations for the 2023-24 campaign.

As a result, Newcastle narrowly avoided a points deduction heading into the new campaign. Though it seem Leicester won’t be quite so fortunate.