Leeds and Burnley drop complaint over Everton’s spending after they had threatened legal action

Leeds and Burnley have dropped their complaint about Everton’s transfer spending, which has now been signed off by the Premier League.

The two clubs wrote to the Premier League at the end of last season threatening to sue for £200million due to the League’s failure to take any action against what they described as Everton extravagant spending, which has led to them posting losses of £371.8m over the last three years.

Leeds and Burnley demanded assurances from the Premier League that Everton’s spending did not breach the top-flight’s spending rules which limit clubs to losses of £105m over three years, and made clear they were prepared to take legal action if they did not receive them.

Leeds and Burnley have dropped their complaints over Everton’s transfer spending

They threatened to sue the Premier League for £200million towards the end of last season for failing to take action against what they had described as extravagant spending by the Toffees

It is understood that the Premier League have since provided both clubs with further details of how Everton have complied with their guidelines, with much of their spending exempt from the limits due to allowances made for investment in infrastructure and losses attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Leeds’ appetite for a potentially lengthy legal dispute may have been dimmed by the fact that they ensured their Premier League survival on the final day of the season, with Burnley being relegated to the Championship, but they only took the decision to withdraw after receiving further information from the Premier League. 

The two clubs had demanded an independent inquiry into the Premier League’s enforcement of their spending rules, which has also been dropped.

Everton have always insisted that their spending was compliant with the regulations despite making huge losses. The Premier League declined to comment.

Both sides were involved in a relegation dog scrap with Everton – which saw Burnley relegated

Leeds’ appetite for a lengthy legal dispute dimmed when they secure their top-flight status

It was previously reported that the Toffees had been seeking authorisation from the Premier League for all major financial transactions for over 12 months to ensure they complied with regulations.

In a letter to the Premier League, both clubs asked any inquiry be fast-tracked so any sanctions – such as point deductions – were implemented this summer and applied retrospectively to the 2021-22 season. 

In their annual accounts published last March Everton said that £170m of their losses were due to Covid – compared to the £24m offset by Leeds and £40m by Newcastle – but in a statement issued last night insisted they had complied with all regulations.

‘We have worked so closely with the Premier League to make sure we are compliant we are comfortable we have complied with the rules,’ a spokesman said. ‘External auditors have told us what we can and cannot claim against the pandemic. If they want to take legal action then they can do so by all means.’