Revealed: Leeds set for near-£50m announcement

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Published on:

21 Mar 2020, 11:00 am

Leeds United are set to announce in their next set of financial results that revenue has climbed up towards £50m, Football Insider has learned.

The Yorkshire giants are legally obliged to publish their accounts in the coming weeks for the 2018-19 season in which they narrowly missed out on Championship promotion.

A Leeds source has told Football Insider that figures are set to be released that show turnover has increased above £45m and towards the £50m mark.

United's last annual report showed their turnover rose to £40.8m during Andrea Radrizzani's first full year at the club in 2017-18.

It had been £34m the previous year, which was Massimo Cellini's final one at the helm.

It further swelled in 2018-19 as Leeds maintained a strong promotion challenge until they suffered play-off semi-final heartache against Derby County.

However, there is likely to be an even higher loss than last year's £4.3m deficit following the huge investment in Marcelo Bielsa and his coaching staff in the summer of 2018.

It has been widely suggested they earn £6million between them, while the wage bill has continued to soar, with deals of around £40,000-a-week handed to top earners Kiko Casilla and Patrick Bamford.

The Championship promotion hopefuls have nevertheless seen marked growth over the last four years, mainly due to increased commercial revenue, higher crowds and gate receipts.

United are the best supported club outside of the Premier League and Elland Road was regularly full to capacity during Bielsa's first campaign, as it has been again this season.

Radrizzani owns around 88 per cent of Leeds and is committed to overseeing the team's return to the Premier League.

He bought Leeds in 2017, before reducing his 100 per cent holding in 2018 when 49ers Enterprises, the investment branch of the San Francisco 49ers, bought £11 million worth of shares, thought to be around 12 per cent of the club.

In other Leeds United news, it can be REVEALED that a £15million deal agreed is to be spread across four payments.

Leeds United