Financial Fair Play
Liverpool’s owners have been criticized a lot in the last 24 hours for losing out on Salah due to their unwillingness to shell out the extra money, mainly in agents’ fees, which resulted in the Egyptian moving to Chelsea. However, people are failing to keep a crucial factor in mind- UEFA’s Financial Fair Play which stipulates that clubs are supposed to spend within their means.
Liverpool’s commercial department have been working overtime to increase their revenue stream by adding new sponsors, and the results are there to see following the publication of 2014 Deloitte Football Money League- even though Liverpool have slipped out of the top 10, their revenues have increased by £17.5 million in 2012-13 season compared to 2011-12 season.
However, Liverpool are unable to spend too much more this season due to a cap on the amount owners can pump in over the course of three seasons ending 2013-14, and Liverpool are pretty close to exhausting the available budget. It is not a question of whether the owners are willing to put the money where their mouth is, it’s whether the rules allow them to or not. As a result, Liverpool are looking for cut-price deals, or looking to make the payments in installments, which obviously places them at a disadvantage.
Salah is a player who would have improved the squad and added an extra dimension to the Liverpool attack, but with six players- Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho, Raheem Sterling, Luis Alberto and Victor Moses- fighting for three spots, there is sufficient depth in the attacking areas to make do until the summer. Liverpool will undoubtedly be disappointed in losing out on a transfer target, but given the constraints, Liverpool may be better off focusing on the addressing more pressing concerns.
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