Crystal Palace have now agreed to sell Maxence Lacroix to Chelsea for a sum of £52m.
The Eagles were in a relatively comfortable financial position even before this development, having sold the likes of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi for a combined total of £138.3m across the past 24 months. The trio only cost £45.5m initially, resulting in almost £100m worth of profit.
Now, however, the sale of Lacroix makes the situation even more comfortable for Crystal Palace as the Eagles attempt to stay within UEFA’s 70% Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) rules.
UEFA: The new rule limits spending on player and coach wages, transfers and agent fees to 70% of club revenue.
Football finance expert Adam Williams has now informed We are Palace how this £52m deal changes the financial landscape at Selhurst Park.
Lacroix to Chelsea is IMMINENT 🚨
Thoughts, Palace fans? 🤔
Exclusive: Crystal Palace “have scope to spend on a few good transfers” as SCR restrictions lessen
It is understood that Crystal Palace still lack the “huge” headroom required to truly go wild in the transfer market, but the sale of Lacroix puts the Eagles far away from any financial danger under UEFA’s rules and offers greater spending freedom.
The Head of Football Finance and Governance Content for GRV Media told We are Palace: “With SCR, you take a three-year average of player sale profits to work out the numerator for your ratio. In 2024/25, player sale profits were £66m. We haven’t got the accounts for 2025/26 yet, but Eze and Guehi were pretty much pure-profit sales, so there’s at least £80m of profit there. So even if Lacroix at £52m is the only sale Palace make this window, you’ve got a three-year average of around £66m. You add that to your revenue to work out how much you can spend under SCR.
“It’s the UEFA rules which you need to look at because the SCR limit is 70%, which is lower than the Premier League threshold, so that is your ceiling. At UEFA level, it’s a calendar-year test, so you have to look at the back end of 2025/26 and the front end of 2026/27. You have to do some educated guesswork there because A) we don’t know their revenue in 2025/26 yet and B) 2026/27 hasn’t even started yet, so we have even less of an idea of revenue there. But I think they’ll be projecting at least £225m. So under SCR, it’s £225m plus player sale profits of £66m. That’s £291m, of which 70% is just under £204m. So that is your limit. These are back-of-a-napkin calculations. The final number will be a bit different, but this gives you a flavour.
“In the last set of accounts, wages were £148m. Probably 75% of that is first-team, which is what’s relevant for SCR, so £111m. Transfer amortisation was £54m. I imagine both will have nudged up a little bit after the signings they made last season, but we’re not talking huge movements.
“They will still have probably something like £30m – £50m of SCR space. And remember, that’s for amortised transfers, not the upfront value of a deal. If they sign a player for £50m on a five-year deal, for example, only £10m is amortised in the first year, which is the figure that goes towards SCR alongside wages. So even without the Lacroix sale, I think they have scope to spend on a few good transfers under SCR. Add in that sale and a few more this summer and they should have ample room to manoeuvre under SCR – although it is good practice to have a buffer, so you don’t want to get too close to the limit.
“The caveat here, though, is that this is what they can spend under the rules, not necessarily what they actually will spend.“
Are you worried about our (lack of) transfer activity? 🤔
Southampton are keen to sign Justin Devenny this summer – who also has interest from Leicester and Preston – so the Northern Ireland international could soon follow Lacroix in leaving Selhurst Park.
