At this stage of the summer, Crystal Palace appear to be keeping a close eye on the free agent market.
One player has already been plucked from this market after Oscar Mingueza arrived on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract at Celta Vigo.
That initially seemed like Matt Hobbs was simply acting on a market opportunity, but with Africa Foot now claiming that another free agent is close to arriving in Krepin Diatta, some fans are concerned that there may not be much of a transfer budget for Pierre Sage to spend this summer.
Adam Williams has now explained to We are Palace why Crystal Palace might be incentivised to sign freebies this summer, despite being in a healthy financial position.
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Exclusive: £200m Main Stand redevelopment and boardroom uncertainty may push Crystal Palace to be “conservative”
GRV Media’s Head of Football Finance and Governance Content said: “I do think the lack of funds seemingly available is a little puzzling. They’re riding the crest of a wave with the Conference League win and on the back of what are the most successful years in their history. Europa League revenue should give them more of a cushion to spend too. The market is beginning to heat up now after the World Cup, but you would expect to see more irons in the fire for Palace.
“My prediction was that they would have a net spend of £50m – £75m after sales. So, if they sell Maxence Lacroix for £60m, they would go and spend £110m – £135m thereafter on new signings. But that was an estimate of what they could do within their means, not necessarily what the owners will actually sanction.
“There are a couple of caveats here as well. For one, the stadium redevelopment needs to be financed. They’ve got a loan of £125m from Goldman Sachs, but it looks like the project is going to cost £75m on top of that, and these things almost always overrun. So maybe they plan on using some of their cash reserves and capacity to take more transfer instalment debt on top of share capital for that. Their net transfer debt was a very modest £66m at the last financial year-end, which was one of the lowest in the division, so that shouldn’t be a barrier to further investment in the transfer market, after all.
“The other elephant in the room is the fact that the owners are exploring a sale, either through a minority investment or a full takeover. My instinct is that they will use minority investment to fund the stadium expansion. So maybe it’s a case of being conservative in the transfer market until that situation is ironed out and they have more financial security.
“I appreciate we’re doing quite a lot of speculation here, but if they end the summer transfer window without having invested more significantly than in previous seasons – despite being in a better position than ever to do so – that seems like the most likely explanation.”
