Today The Independent newspaper published details from a document indicating that Liverpool have a £20M maximum annual transfer kitty till 2014.
The documents are from a prospectus produced last year in an attempt to showcase the club to potential buyers, and were revealed on various Liverpool forums, including LFC Reds, over a week ago (see here). They are also based on two qualifying factors.
1. That the Carlsberg deal would continue
2. That Liverpool would continue to qualify for the Champions League (which brings in about £20M per year)
According to Liverpool Chief Executive Christian Purslow, Liverpool spent £20M this summer (here and here) – however our own figures indicate that in terms of net transfer spend Liverpool made a net transfer PROFIT of £14 M in 2009.
Why the disparity?
It looks to us like some clever accounting.
Liverpool have included the cost of ‘extending contracts’ such as Torres one year extension in to this summer’s transfer spend. They have also only included this summer’s installment payments.
So if we paid our £20M for Aquilani up front, and Real Madrid only paid a £5M installment for their £30M Alonso fee then Liverpool have decided that counts as Liverpool spending £15M on new players.
Have your say in our forums about all these off the field shenanigans.