GM football fans. It’s Thursday, August. 7 - Premier League execs express concern over the league’s rising legal costs, Serie A players will have their salary slashed automatically if they’re relegated, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
TOP TALKING POINTS
Serie A’s Mandatory Pay-Cut
The Italian top flight players will see their salaries slashed by 25% if their teams are relegated to Serie B, under a new agreement between the Italian Footballers’ Association and Serie A. The new clause applies to all contracts signed after September 2, the end of the summer transfer window.
The agreement is in place for five years and aims to ease the financial strain on clubs that are relegated. For years, Serie A clubs have been pushing for contractual flexibility in the event of relegation to avoid scenarios where they’d have to sell players or terminate contracts to cut costs. This change provides an automatic mechanism for wage adjustment while allowing exceptions if clubs and players negotiate alternative terms.
While the Serie A does provide parachute payments to relegated teams, it is far less than what is given by the Premier League. For comparison, Serie A pays out around €10m for clubs that have spent one season in the top flight, while it’s not uncommon for the Premier League to pay out around €100m in parachute payments over several years.
Prem’s Rising Legal Costs
Premier League club executives are increasingly concerned (paywall) about the growing legal costs from ongoing cases involving Manchester City and Chelsea. Senior figures have reportedly been told that the costs to both sides of the Premier League’s case against City have reached £200m over the past five years. This doesn’t include costs linked to the league defending its Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules in a separate legal challenge brought by City—read more on that case here.
At the start of last season, the Premier League warned clubs that its legal spending for 2023-24 was around £48m, six times its original budget. Overall, the league’s operating expenses rose by £81m, with an “increase in legal fees” cited as the primary reason.
These legal fees are paid from central Premier League funds, which are primarily generated through broadcast and commercial revenues. This means that all 20 member clubs, who are shareholders in the league, are collectively funding the costs.
MLS Transfer Record Broken
Son Heung-min has completed a record-breaking transfer to Los Angeles FC from Tottenham Hotspur, setting a new Major League Soccer (MLS) record. The South Korean winger revealed in a news conference on Saturday that he would leave Tottenham after 10 years at the club—watch his send-off video here.
LAFC will pay around $26.5m (£20m) for Son, surpassing the $22m (£16.5m) fee Atlanta United paid for Middlesbrough’s Emmanuel Latte Lath in February. This marks the third time the MLS transfer record has been matched or broken in 2025, following a previous long-standing record from 2019 when Gonzalo Martinez moved to Atlanta United for $16.8m from River Plate. See a list of the highest transfers in MLS history here.
Los Angeles is home to the largest Korean population in the U.S., over 320,000 people, making it the biggest Korean community outside of Korea itself. Son’s arrival has already helped push LAFC’s Instagram following past one million.
POLL
Do you think mandatory pay cuts for relegated teams is a good idea?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Champions League third round qualifying first legs concluded on Wednesday; in the standout fixtures, Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce lost 2-1 to Feyenoord and Benfica beat Nice 2-0 (See Full Results); dive deeper into the qualifying dates and format (More)
> The Spanish Players’ Association contacted Marc-Andre ter Stegen to say that his club, Barcelona, have no legal basis to penalise him over refusing to sign his medical report consent form (More); context in previous write-up (More)
> Everton approach Manchester City over a possible loan deal for winger Jack Grealish (More); the Toffees have signed midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Chelsea for a fee of about £28m (More) | Kick It Out received a record 1,400 reports of discrimination during the 2024-25 season, a new report finds (More)
> Serie A referees will begin announcing VAR decisions live in stadiums and on television starting next season (More)
Americas
> The current Liga MX champions Toluca are the first team to advance to the Leagues Cup quarter-finals after beating New York City 2-1 (More); see all results (More)
> Vancouver Whitecaps FC have officially signed Thomas Muller from Bayern Munich (More) | Atlanta United have signed defender Nyk Sessock from MLS NEXT Pro affiliate Atlanta United 2 (More)
> USL Championship mid-week fixtures, Rhode Island vs. Detroit City, Hartford Athletic vs. Miami FC, and Monterey Bay vs. FC Tulsa conclude shortly after publication (See Results)
Rest of the World
> Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal have reached an agreement to sign Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez for around €65m including add-ons (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do teams with famous owners, like Wrexham and Birmingham City, make the Championship more appealing to watch?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🤩 Yes (56%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (42%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (2%)
Your punditry takes:
🤩 J.L: “Unfortunately, marketing plays a big part in the appeal of following these clubs. Wrexham's owners have been masterful at creating a huge fan base using the documentary series and their fame. The Championship will certainly have more fans watching matches and following the league due to Wrexham's inclusion. Anything that gets more fans watching football is a good thing, and the beautiful game still has a long way to go in terms of converting Americans into football fans.”
🤩 K.M.C: “Seems like drama likes to follow the clubs with high-profile owners. The spotlight is on to see if the ‘project’ becomes a ‘Magnificent Success’ or a ‘Catastrophic Failure’. Every turn of the screw is scrutinised!”
🙅♂️ D.W: “The vast majority of clubs have a true history that can go back over a hundred years, and the most relevant people to these are the fans and the community. More and more famous owners are jumping on the bandwagon, it is purely a financial, business model to them.”
✍️ T.S: “It's not that it is more or less appealing, rather that they bring attention to the league in unusual ways. Take the docuseries around Wrexham, this publicity spurred a lot of interest in the lower tiers of the British football system outside of homegrown fans. Hopefully, this trend will continue with other teams, providing a boost to all levels of play.”
EXTRA TIME
Every transfer in Europe’s top five leagues. (live tracker)
Ranking the best kits in La Liga this season.
Gary Lineker is going to host a new game show.
The worst goalkeeper mistake you’ll see all week.
Inside Tom Brady’s Birmingham City–and how it plans to evolve.
Why does Ed Sheeran have a shirt number at Ipswich?
Everton is the first Prem side to commit to a Living Pension.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Since 2004-05, four players have scored twice in a Community Shield match. How many can you name?
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
Europa League, 3rd Qualifying Round
See all fixtures here.
UEFA Conference League, 3rd Qualifying Round
See all fixtures here.
*All times in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.
Answer
Didier Drogba (2005-06), Nani (2011-12), Robin van Persie (2012-13), Sergio Aguero (2018-19).
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
We need a young phenom like a Lamine Yamal, a young Lionel Messi, to take over.
