Burnley are seeking compensation from Everton in relation to the Clarets' relegation from the Premier League in the 2021-22 season.
Burnley could be seeking around £10 million in compensation from Everton, according to football finance expert Stefan Borson.
The Clarets have brought a case against the Toffees in relegation to the 2021-22 season. The two teams were in a Premier League relegation scrap, with Everton surviving and Burnley demoted to the Championship.
The Blues were subsequently found guilty of two separate breaches of profit and sustainability rules for 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively and were deducted a total of eight points the following campaign.
Burnley and Leeds United wrote to the Premier League asking for Everton’s finances to be investigated. The Clarets are the only club known to be pursuing the case for a loss of revenue after dropping into the Championship. Their earnings dropped by £58 million in the second tier.
But as the Turf Moore outfit slashed their wage bill and were immediately promoted back to the Premier League, Borson believes it could cost Everton less than had Burnley not gone up. Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “Burnley are the team that got relegated and are going to say but for Everton overspending, we would have survived, Everton would have received four fewer points, we would have survived and are due compensation.
“In many ways, it is a similar case to the old Sheffield United vs West Ham case (in 2005) when Carlos Tevez played for West Ham in breach of third-party ownership. It was established by an arbitration panel in 2007 that had Tevez not played for West Ham, they would have got at least three fewer points, therefore would have been relegated and Sheffield United received compensation.
“It was established in the independent commission and part of the appeal related to overspending on players. It was proven largely because of Mr Moshiri's own evidence who effectively said their midfield was useless and he was spending aggressively to fix that problem. We can argue the players they purchased didn't go the job but that won't be relevant in all likelihood to the deliberation to this panel.
“Everton beat Burnley 3-1 during the season so they'll say even if they got a draw, it would have been a two-point swing. They have a decent chance of showing a level of causation there, sufficient to get them to get them over the hurdle on the balance of probabilities.
“The nice thing for Everton is Burnley did an amazing job managing their costs after relegation and won the Championship. They had more games, so their match-day revenue was higher than in the Premier League, won the Championship and slashed their wage bill by over 50 per cent. They lost £58 million in revenue compared to the prior season but most of that was on broadcast mitigated by the parachute payments but reduced their cost dramatically. They probably have a loss of around £10 million versus what they would have got had they been in the Premier League. Maybe the prize they're after is less than £10 million.”
Borson has also suggested that Everton could have made a settlement with Leeds behind the scenes. He added: “It is possible either of the other clubs think they don't have a good case on causation - ie Everton's case has caused them a loss. That seems quite hard to believe in someone's case like Leeds. You'd think Leeds would be able to show in the 21-22 season, had Everton not overspent - they admitted overspending - they don't need to prove that.
“Leeds might say we'd have finished one place higher, which was worth £2 million in 21-22. Arguably, they have some kind of case for small amount of compensation. It is slightly surprising we haven't heard from Leeds but it is possible that behind the scenes, Everton and Leeds have come to an arrangement in regards to settling any dispute in respect of that.”