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Brighton's big loss is not a worry

Brighton & Hove Albion suffered a £54.4million ($72.9m) loss before interest and tax in the 2024-25 season.  The transformation from big profits in previous years to a hefty deficit was anticipated, due to an unprecedented spend of nearly £210m on signings during Fabian Hurzeler’s first season as head coach, which ended in an eighth-place Premier League finish.

Brighton made a £73.3m profit for the 2023-24 season, when they reached the last 16 of the Europa League under former head coach Roberto De Zerbi and finished 11th in the league. The profit included £115m from the then-British record sale of Moises Caicedo and £25m for goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, as their transfers to Chelsea in the summer of 2023 fell outside the accounting period for the 2022-23 campaign.

Brighton made a Premier League record profit across all clubs of £122.8m in 2022-23. That was aided by player sales, merit money for finishing sixth to qualify for Europe for the first time and compensation for the move by De Zerbi’s predecessor Graham Potter and members of his backroom staff to Chelsea in September 2022.

The accounts for the 2025-26 campaign are expected to see a return to profit, since the 2024-25 figures do not include major player sales last summer, headed by Joao Pedro (£60m to Chelsea), Simon Adingra (£21m to Sunderland), Julio Enciso (undisclosed to Strasbourg) and Pervis Estupinan (undisclosed to AC Milan).

Player trading has long been the key part of Brighton’s business model under chairman Tony Bloom, and last season saw the club invest heavily after years of making big sales. £210.5million was dispensed on player fees, making them only the 11th English club to surpass £200m in player spending in a single financial year.

2024-25’s big loss is of no great concern: it was very much a one-off, and one which occurred when the club had amassed huge headroom under the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

On the latest numbers, Brighton’s revenue sits 10th in the Premier League, and they should remain around there, even as only three clubs have published 2024-25 figures.  Likewise, a £164.6million wage bill sits bang in the middle of the table, suggesting last season’s league finish was a small ove r performance. 

Across 2022-23 and 2023-24, Brighton’s chairman was repaid £106.8m of the large sums he has loaned the club, but those repayments were entirely reversed last season as Bloom ploughed £106.9m back in. The money was used to fund spending on assets: a net £51.5m on transfers and a further £49.8m on infrastructure works.

As a result, the club’s debt to Bloom has returned to £406.5m, making Brighton the fourth most indebted club in England, only surpassed by Everton (though this may have changed when we see their latest figures), Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

 

 

 

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