Mateo Joseph sale could give Leeds United ‘£42.5m’ to spend on new signings as PSR cheat code revealed

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It appears that Mateo Joseph’s Leeds United tenure could be coming to an end this summer.

Joseph’s future has looked uncertain this season after a lack of game time under Daniel Farke.

In January, Real Betis bid £10m for Joseph, but Farke and the 49ers chose to reject the offer.

This was due to the ‘important’ plans Farke had in store for the youngster, but this proved to be false words from the Leeds boss.

Since they rejected the bid, Joseph went on to play just 115 minutes, and now it’s been agreed that Joseph can leave Leeds, and it might actually benefit the Whites in the long term.

Potential Mateo Joseph sale could give Leeds United 42.5m

The striker leaving might be a risky decision from the owners, as selling youngsters has been seen to backfire after Charlie Cresswell’s sale was considered ‘madness’.

Selling Joseph could certainly prove to follow the same feat as Cresswell’s departure, especially with Joseph impressing for Spain recently.

But something unique about Joseph coming from the Thorp Arch Academy is that he isn’t entirely homegrown, with the striker arriving from Espanyol in 2022.

It’s been claimed that a potential price for his departure will amount to £8.5m, but although nothing is agreed, if he does leave, it will actually have a favourable effect on PSR for Leeds.

Finance expert Adam Williams has spoken to LeedsUnited.News about what Joseph’s sale really means for PSR.

“For the purposes of a club’s profit-and-loss account and by extension PSR, a player’s amortised book value is the factor that determines the profit on his sale.

“So, for Joseph, they signed him for £900,000 in 2022 on a three-and-a-half-year deal. So the amortisation charge was about £260,000 per year, but then they extended his deal in January last year until the summer of 2028. So by my reckoning, his current book value is about £130,000. So while he isn’t a pure profit sale in the sense that he has zero value on the books, he may as well be.

“If the sale price is £8.35m, the PSR profit is going to be £8.45m or thereabouts.

“Significantly for Leeds, that £8.45m profit hits the books in one go, whereas any signings they make will be amortised over up to five years. In theory, therefore, you could spend £42.25m this summer and, because you have registered the Joseph profit in one go, it would have a net neutral impact on their amortisation and PSR calculation.

“It’s not a free hit. You have to pay the wages of whoever you sign, and then you have to amortise the rest of £42.25m over the next four years, which will eat into your PSR calculations in future seasons.

“But Leeds’ PSR limit for this coming season – i.e., how much they can lose for the three years up until June 2026 – is £61m, so they don’t have much room for manoeuvre. It will increase to £83m next season if they stay up and £105m thereafter.

“So I think any deal that is pure profit or close to pure profit will be valuable in giving them that extra breathing space to recruit and strengthen the squad to give them the best chance of survival in the short term. After that, you cut your cloth accordingly.”

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Leeds are living up to being ‘one of the busiest’ in June

With sales obviously benefiting Leeds’ stance with PSR, Joseph’s potential departure will be a big plus.

Losing a player like the Spaniard could certainly backfire, but the overall deal no doubt benefits the Whites.

Junior Firpo will join Betis, and Joseph could follow, as Leeds expected to be ‘one of the busiest’ in June.

The Whites continue to sell well to comply with the rules, and although Leeds are expected to ‘just’ be safe in terms of PSR, these sales could go a long way.

Joseph represents ‘pure profit’ and although his sale will hurt, the 49ers’ Premier League plan appears to be running smoothly.