Manchester United's 2 summer transfer deadline days will give them PSR and FFP lifeline

The story of Nottingham Forest's 2023 summer transfer window is laid bare in the independent commission's verdict into their breach of the Premier League's financial rules, which was issued on Monday.

It details the interest in Brennan Johnson and the club's attempts to sell him during the window. From a €50million offer from Atletico Madrid, which was contingent on the La Liga side selling another player, to the £47.5million move which eventually took Johnson to Tottenham, it is all in there, including attempts to drum up interest in the forward by offering him to Manchester United.

The reason Johnson forms such a key part of the 52-page written verdict is because of a date in the calendar that has essentially become a second deadline day. June 30, 2023, was D-day for Forest and it was one they missed. That is why they have been deducted four points.

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As key figures at Forest pointed out in evidence submitted to the panel, they knew a player trading profit of around £30millon was required by June 30, 2023, the final day of the financial year, to avoid falling foul of the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR). They also knew academy product Johnson was the only player who could deliver that.

This verdict should really be the beginning of the end for PSR as it stands. Making the sale of academy players a shortcut to avoid falling foul of the rules and imposing a deadline at a point when the summer transfer window is yet to get going makes them a sham, but right now there is no sign of change coming.

That makes June