'Big picture' - Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe answers Archie Gray summer transfer question

The man heading up the 49ers Enterprises ownership group, who bought the club from Andrea Radrizzani last summer, says the Championship's Profitability and Sustainability [P&S] regulations provide a backdrop to the discussion of players' futures. Marathe makes no secret of the fact that player sales will be a necessary part of the summer business in order to keep Leeds P&S compliant. But while supporters have been mentally preparing themselves for the potential exits of young stars like Crysencio Summerville and Willy Gnonto, Gray's family heritage and Leeds-own status puts him in a more emotive conversation. He’s a Leeds fan. He , his family and advisors know Leeds is one club that can and will guarantee game time, at a crucial point of his development. Manager Daniel Farke rates him so highly that he trusted Gray to hold down the right-back slot and handed him 44 Championship appearances, before playing him for every minute of the play-offs. The teenager is undoubtedly the one player the fanbase would most like to keep hold of when the summer 2024 transfer window shuts.

On that prospect Marathe refused to be drawn on specifics, but neither did he rule out the possibility of a move for 'tremendous' Gray this summer. "It's a little too early for me to answer specific questions, it's still, what is it 36 hours or whatever since the final, so it's just I can't talk on specific players right now," said Marathe. "But if I can paint the big picture for you, there are certain things that we need to do and we will make sure we are fully compliant with P&S, as we always have been. And there are certain trade-offs that we have to make and so we'll have to get to the drawing board and figure out which moves we have to make sure that we are compliant. It's too early to say. Obviously Archie is a tremendous player, as are all of the players who put in so much effort for us, but you know, every season brings change and so I can't yet comment on it, but we'll see what happens."

Gray's high ceiling and value, which logic would suggest should be well north of the £42m Leeds accepted from Manchester City for Kalvin Phillips, would certainly help solve some of the headaches created by Sunday's play-off final defeat to Southampton at Wembley. He will be one of the Leeds talents already being discussed by recruitment teams at elite-level clubs and even if Leeds set their hearts on keeping him, a big offer could be difficult to turn down. As a home-grown talent he would also represent pure profit on the books. Promotion and the subsequent top flight riches would have, in turn, given 49ers Enterprises greater license to flex their monetary might. Staying down in the second tier brings into sharp focus up to £190 million in outstanding transfer fees owed to other clubs. But with the resources of the investment group, incoming money from the sales of Tyler Adams and Luis Sinisterra and whatever player sales are made, Marathe is comfortable with the club's financial position.

"Well let me lead with this, we are well capitalised from an investment standpoint, we have the funds that we need to do what we need to do," he said. "The reality of being in the Championship is that P&S plays a role. We obviously also inherited a challenging situation, which you guys have all seen, so there naturally need to be some trade-offs. But also we have a really good team and it's not just outs, it's ins as well. And so looking at scouting possibilities for us and players that we can bring in, but we will have to make some trade-offs because of P&S. But we have the investment commitment that we need to do what we need to do.

"The outbound transfer payments we have to make were already contemplated as went through the transaction last summer and that was sort of reflected in the acquisition. We inherited a credit card bill we knew we had to take care of and we made sure we had the investment we needed up front and capital commitment to make sure we were covered on that and able to manage that properly. What is not in those numbers reported is some of the inbound payments - for example, our sales of Tyler Adams and Luis Sinisterra, there's some inbound transfer payments coming from that. The net is already a bit lower but we have what we need to be competitive and we'll shape the squad accordingly. We have what we need to compete among the best."

Marathe reiterated that Leeds will do what they need to do in order to comply with the EFL's financial regulations but believes P&S complications should be an indication of 49ers Enterprises ambition regardless of the league Leeds find themselves in.

"Honestly, my hope is that we're always going to be dealing with some P&S complications because we're always going to be fielding a team as legally competitive as we can," he said. "Whether we're in the Championship or the Premier League, we're going to be going full tilt to make us as competitive as we can be so wherever we are, it's going to be complicated."