Premier League clubs are facing the prospect of losing millions of Euros to the expensive players they are struggling to sell as the consequences of the Profit and Sustainability Regulation (PSR) begin to occur.
Veterans of the England team such as Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell are among the players who no longer meet the requirements. In that context, teams are looking to increase their transfer budget and save wages.
But with many clubs now cautious about finances to stay within the PSR, more and more teams are selling players and have to decide whether they should reduce prices.
"This is the time of year when most transfers are done," said a leading transfer broker in the UK. We have seen some big transfers taking place at Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City. And they are likely to create a domino effect.
But some clubs are also not hiding the fact that they are looking to sell players that have cost them a lot of transfer fees and wages. That is the market of buyers. Some clubs will have to cut losses at some point just to take these players out of the squad."
At the end of last season, Man United clearly stated that they were ready to listen to any offers for any player. The top priority is to find a club for an unsuitable group of players, those with a total transfer fee of more than 310 million pounds and a total salary of about 4 million pounds per week.
That list includes Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Antony and Tyrell Malacia, along with Casemiro, Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund. Up to now, no team has seriously wanted to recruit these players.
Chelsea are also facing a similar dilemma. The Blues are looking to recover £184 million they invested in Raheem Sterling, Joao Felix, Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi and Djordje Petrovic. All 5 players were left out of the squad for the FIFA Club World Cup in the US.
So far, Benfica have only made a specific offer to Felix, but they are willing to pay less than half of the £43 million Chelsea have invested. In addition, Felix's £130,000-a-week salary is also too high.
Sterling, a player bought for £45 million from Man City, has returned to Chelsea after a loan spell at Arsenal. Chilwell, meanwhile, spent last season on loan at Crystal Palace. The Blues had to pay Leicester £45 million to sign the full-back.
For Man City, Pep Guardiola's decision to leave Jack Grealish out of the FIFA Club World Cup squad has shown that the £100 million midfielder is no longer qualified at the Etihad.
Everton want to borrow Grealish if Man City are willing to support part of his £300,000 a week salary. The Citizens will also not mind the departure of John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan. These two players have a total salary of more than 400,000 pounds a week.
Liverpool are also ready to sell Darwin Nunez if they can recover £70 million in transfer fees. However, Nunez has made it clear that he wants to stay in Europe rather than accept an offer from Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal, the destination will meet most of the striker's financial conditions.
"C clubs from the Saudi Pro League can come up with a solution. But while the contracts provided to players are great, they are not always generous when it comes to transfer fees.
There is also a question about whether the players will want to play in Saudi Arabia when they still have a lot to contribute in the Premier League," said a source from Mirror.
