Aston Villa and Wolves to vote on new Premier League FFP rule Man Utd 'vehemently oppose'

Premier League clubs are gearing up for a crucial vote this Monday on whether to introduce a "hard spending cap" as part of new financial regulations set to kick in from the 2025/26 season.

In a significant meeting scheduled for next week, top-flight teams will deliberate over stringent cost control measures, with "anchoring" being a key point of discussion. This method would limit the spending power of wealthier clubs toaround five times the TV revenue earned by the league's lowest earner, affecting expenditure on transfers, wages, and agents' fees.

The exact multiplier remains undecided at the moment, but to give an idea, last season's bottom club Southampton pocketed £103.6million from TV rights. Contrast that with Manchester City, who had the heftiest wage bill at £422.9million, more than quadrupling Southampton's TV earnings.

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Earlier this month, Premier League members reached a consensus to overhaul the existing profit and sustainability rules by the 2025/26 season. The new framework will cap clubs' spending at 85% of their total income on wages, transfer fees, and agents' costs for financial fair play.

The "anchoring" strategy is now being considered as an additional measure to prevent the financial imprudence that has previously led to points deductions for regulatory breaches, reports football.london.

It has been recently mooted that a 'luxury tax' might be on the cards for teams breaching financial regulations, with penalties in place for those who overspend. The funds accrued from such fines would then be shared among Premier League clubs adhering to their budgets.

The Telegraph has revealed that Manchester United are set to "vehemently oppose" any proposal of a strict spending limit, believing it would put them at a "disadvantage" compared to European rivals. Manchester City are also anticipated to reject the concept.

While the rules would impact Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers, it's speculated that Chelsea, having invested over £1billion in player acquisitions since Todd Boehly's takeover two years ago, might align with City and United against a spending cap.

If a spending cap had been implemented last season, the maximum squad expenditure would have been £518m. Chelsea, having spent £539m on wages, transfers, and agent fees, would have been the sole club to exceed this threshold.