O’Neil on Broja: “Couldn’t afford it without endangering ourselves”

Instead, move to Fulham

Wolverhampton coach Gary O’Neil made it clear how much attention is paid to money in the Premier League at the moment when he was asked about the missed transfer of Chelsea striker Armando Broja (22). “We could afford the salary, but some of the fees – clauses, loan fees, penalties for players not playing – were too big a hurdle for us,” explained the 40-year-old (quoted via “Daily Mail“).

Instead, Broja moved from Chelsea to FC Fulham on loan until the end of the season, who were able to cover the package including a loan fee of around 4.7 million euros. The competitors are only separated by two places in the league table. “We couldn’t afford to go where other clubs could go without endangering ourselves,” O’Neil said. Last summer, when the Wolves were not yet on a transfer diet, they bought for 169.2 million euros – this winter it was only enough for the loan of PSG’s midfield talent Noha Lemina (18).

O’Neil after a quiet transfer window: “At least financially we are in a good position”

However, there is a problem in the center of the attack, as Sasa Kalajdzic (26), who hardly played in the first half of the season, was loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt in order to gain match practice. And Hee-chan Hwang (28) is in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup with South Korea. “At least financially we’re doing well, we haven’t broken any rules or gone into an area we shouldn’t go into,” says O’Neil.

Everton FC experienced what can happen if the English league catches you in this area, with ten points deducted for violating the “Rules for Profitability and Sustainability” (PSR). Things could get even worse for the Toffees as the Liverpool club are currently awaiting the announcement of their next penalty along with Nottingham Forest. The PSR rules adopted by the league in 2013 state that a club can make a maximum loss of £105 million within three years – the equivalent of around €123 million (more information can be found here).

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The Premier League clubs’ need to save meant that only 121 million euros were invested in new players in the winter transfer window. That is a good 85 percent less than 2023 (843 million euros) and 65 percent less than 2022 (345 million euros).

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