Exclusive: Leeds United's potential PSR sale assessed by former England international as blunt admission made
Leeds United are heading back to the Premier League, but amid excitement there is understandable trepidation.
The top flight is not the land of milk and honey for all and talk of profit and sustainability rules do a fantastic job dampening the anticipation, particularly after the high of a promotion.
‘PSR sale’ has become a dreaded term, as there is often a huge element of reluctance involved.
Mateo Joseph has been a particularly constant subject of transfer speculation, with Real Betis supposedly keen after a failed winter window swoop.
The 21-year-old was a relatively low-key - and more pertinently, cheap - addition to the Leeds ranks in 2022.
A sale of the Spanish prodigy would be great for the PSR accounts, but parting with a player thought to have an incredibly high ceiling would hardly be ideal.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post via William Hill Vegas, former Leeds defender Danny Mills has weighed in on the possibility of Joseph being a sacrificial lamb for the financial fair play gods.
He said: "I guess you have to look at it and ask how much money you are going to get for him. What profit are you going to get for that?
“Is he going to be one of your mainstays playing week in, week out in the Premier League? Probably not is the answer.
"He's not been able to do that in the Championship, so it then becomes a calculated gamble. Will he be great in two or three years? Possibly.
“Can that come back to bite you in the backside? 100 per cent it can. We've seen that time and time again.”
The likes of Pascal Struijk and Wilfried Gnonto would also be valuable sales for the spreadsheets, but have featured more prominently than Joseph.
Mills said: "You have to look at it and say, if he's not going to play, if he's not going to be in the starting XI for probably 50 per cent of the games, is that a player we can sacrifice? Probably yes, is the answer. Struijk and Gnonto are more likely to start and maybe add something to that.”
A great deal of the changes made to football in recent years have supposedly been made with fairness in mind.
Whether or not they have actually aided the game’s fairness, however, is a matter very much up for debate.
Rules regarding profit and sustainability certainly divide opinion - and Mills’ stance is clear.
He said: “It’s tough - it's a gamble. PSR doesn't work. It doesn't. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the gulf just gets bigger, simple as that.”