PFA chief: ‘Nonsensical’ that financial rules encourage sale of academy players

Premier League financial rules which encourage the sale of academy players are “nonsensical” and “counterproductive”, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association has said.

Proceeds from the sale of a homegrown player are regarded as immediate ‘pure profit’ from an accounting perspective. That makes them an attractive option to sell when clubs are seeking to boost revenue in order to avoid points deductions under the top flight’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

PFA boss Maheta Molango says that approach does not benefit anyone.

“It’s yet another good example of how players need to be at the table,” he said.

“We need to be part of those discussions, otherwise you end up introducing rules which make sense in a nice office with air conditioning, but in practice don’t make any sense.

“How can it make sense that due to the rules you end up selling an academy player? It doesn’t make sense for the club either because this is part of your identity, part of what makes the club what it is.

“You end up with nonsensical situations that meet the rules but are counterproductive for the players, but also for the club and also for the fans.

“Fans want to see their academy players. Those are the ones who make you dream, that create that bond with the club. This is why the governance of football needs to change.”

The rules obviously do not compel clubs to sell academy players, but doing so has become an easy get-out for clubs to balance out spending on incoming transfers.

The PSR will be in place next season, but are set to be replaced by new cost control measures for 2025-26.

One of the new measures being trialled in shadow form next season is top-to-bottom anchoring (TBA) which will cap the amount any club can spend on wages, transfer and agents’ fees at five times the forecast smallest prize money allocation to any club in that season.

The PFA has said it will oppose any measure that amounts to a hard salary cap, and has enlisted sports barrister Nick De Marco to make its representations to the Premier League on this matter.

De Marco helped force the withdrawal of an EFL salary cap introduced in 2020.

On the TBA proposal, Molango said: “There needs to be a consultation. Whether we all have the same concept of consultation I’m not sure.

“Consultation is not having a crazy idea, hearing from someone, tweaking it a bit and having something a little less crazy, but still crazy. This is not consultation. We hope to be able to follow the rules, what the PFNCC rules say, once we have sufficient information we’ll assess and decide next steps.”

The PFNCC is the Professional Football Negotiating and Consultative Committee which exists to consider matters related to players and their employment.

“(The PFNCC is) a mechanism that forces people to come to the table and agree,” Molango said.

“It means we as players could not put forward something that the league will not agree (with), but equally the league cannot force upon the players stuff that does not make sense for the players.

“If you have people who are sensible around the table, then it forces a discussion, it forces everyone to think about all the consequences of what they’re trying to do.”

The Premier League has been contacted for comment.

The PFA is part of a legal action in the Belgian courts against FIFA over its scheduling of the new 32-team Club World Cup next summer.

The scheduling has already meant the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) being switched to a December 2025 start, running over Christmas and concluding on January 18, 2026.

Molango fears it will place players in an impossible situation, and make African players a less attractive recruitment option to clubs.

Molango said: “I find it very disrespectful that it is always this competition that needs to give (way).

“It’s not normal that a player in England needs to make a choice between the Christmas period, which is the crucial period for the clubs, and their international team, knowing that it’s important to him and that the consequence of not going to the national team has consequences for his family back home.

“Why should a player be put in that situation? And will it really hamper the chance of an African player to be hired by a club?”

Under FIFA’s current rules, clubs could also refuse to release players for both the AFCON and the World Cup now that the two events are happening in 2026.

FIFA is yet to respond to a request for comment on that matter.