It’s become common wisdom around Leicester City that Mads Hermansen is their most profitable asset, but he may have a rival contender.
The goalkeeper, signed for £6.5m two seasons ago, could leave for four or five times that this summer, and if he does, it would greatly help City in their bid to keep in line with Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
But what about Ben Nelson? As an academy graduate, he will be in the books at next to nothing, and so if the young centre-back was sold, his transfer fee would go down as ‘pure profit’, just as the sales for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Harvey Barnes did.
If Nelson went for more than say £20m, he would be generating a profit in line with that that Hermansen can generate.
It’s an important point to note because now Dewsbury-Hall and Barnes have left, City are running short on money-spinning homegrown talents.
While their first-team squad includes a commendable number of academy graduates, very few would attract big bids.
Fifteen-year-old winger Jeremy Monga perhaps has the highest ceiling and he’s caught the attention of the country’s biggest clubs.
But they won’t have to splash out on him while he’s not under a professional contract, something he’s not able to sign until July 2026, when he turns 17.
If he leaves before then, it will be a case of a compensation agreement, potentially to be decided by a tribunal.
That leaves Nelson as the most valuable of City’s current homegrown stock. And now rumours of interest have emerged, with Chelsea reportedly keen, setting up the potential for a reunion with Enzo Maresca.
A quick rise to the Premier League was predicted last month. Nelson's performances on loan at Oxford saw their manager Gary Rowett suggest he could be playing in the top flight next term, bypassing City.
His future may be determined by City’s PSR situation, which remains up in the air. Never mind the dispute with the Premier League over the 2022/23 finances, with the club and the league locked in “confidential arbitration proceedings”, there are still this year’s accounts for 2024/25 and the accounts for next season to consider.
While the numbers over the 2024/25 season don’t have to be submitted until the end of the calendar year, City have clearly been fearful of a breach, limiting their January spending to just £3m on right-back Woyo Coulibaly.
Plus, there have been suggestions that Ruud van Nistelrooy’s future has been in part decided by PSR calculations, with concerns over the impact of two managerial sackings in one financial year.
If City need to correct course, they need sales before the deadline on June 30.
Going forward, into 2025/26, and City have to cope with a significant decrease in TV and sponsorship revenue as a Championship club. That means reducing the wage bill and bringing in cash through player sales.
There is so much that is unknown and that’s why there's potential trouble when it comes to Nelson.
When City were last in the Championship, they needed to sell Barnes at the start of the financial year and Dewsbury-Hall at the end of it in order to meet PSR guidelines. With Timothy Castagne thrown in, profits of more than £70m were raised.
Looking at City’s current first-team squad, it feels like similar levels of profit will be much harder to come by. That’s unless a player like Nelson is in the mix to be sold.
However, it’s a transfer that fans would not take kindly to. There is an understanding with players like Hermansen and Bilal El Khannouss that they are above the level of the Championship and that fetching the best fee possible for them is reasonable given the circumstances.
But for Nelson to be sold before he’s even had a chance to establish himself in the first team would be a real blow.
Supporters want to see homegrown players. It’s a source of pride to see a youngster, honed and developed through the age groups, promoted to the first team, if even they grew up over the Northamptonshire border as in Nelson’s case.
They are players who are easier to connect to, and it's what every fanbase needs. With the likes of Dewsbury-Hall sold and now with Jamie Vardy leaving, City are in danger of those players being in short supply.
It is frustrating that PSR promotes the sale of homegrown players, but City need to be financially organised enough to avoid it where possible.
There’s so much to be done over the summer, and so many moving parts in play. But one of the fanbase’s big hopes is that Nelson will be in the starting line-up on the opening weekend of next season, rather than having been sold to correct financial mismanagement.
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