Finance expert drops concerning Leicester City update | OneFootball

Leicester City have been issued a major warning regarding their financial situation

Leicester City will be aiming to gain promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking this season.

The Foxes endured a difficult return to the second tier, having been relegated in 2025 from the Premier League.

And it led to the club coming 23rd in the table, five points adrift of safety, suffering a second relegation in a row.

Russell Martin has been appointed as head coach over the summer, with the 40-year-old looking to rebuild his own reputation after a brief spell at Rangers.

Martin was dismissed after just 17 games in charge, and his time at Southampton similarly ended in disappointment.

But off-field issues continue to attract a lot of attention at the King Power Stadium, with it being reported that the League One side has been put up for sale by their Thai owners.

Leicester City’s messy financial picture

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Finance expert Kieran Maguire has claimed that Leicester are a mess, highlighting their partnership with investment banking firm Macquarie, with the Foxes borrowing money from them against their parachute payments and transfer sales.

He’s claimed that the club have borrowed more money from Macquarie this summer, and that they are now in deep with the company, suggesting they have one of the stronger links to the business compared to rival teams, who have borrowed as much as £1.2 billion in total.

“Leicester City are a mess,” said Maguire, the Price of Football podcast.

“Leicester City have borrowed more money from Macquarie — they are not the only football club to borrow from Macquarie.

“I reckon, based on individual clubs that I’ve been looking at, that Macquarie and the other lenders who do these deals on parachute payments — they do these deals on transfer fees and so on — I reckon we’re probably looking at somewhere in the region of £1 to 1.2 billion has been advanced.

“But Leicester are taters deep, I think is the technical phrase, as far as their relationship.

“So they’ve borrowed more money.”

Leicester owners offered Sheffield Wednesday takeover warning

Maguire has also claimed that the biggest stumbling block to a sale of Leicester at the moment is the owners’ current valuation, which has been deemed to be too high to attract any suitable investors.

He has compared the situation to Dejphon Chansiri’s time in charge at Sheffield Wednesday.

“According to quite a few reports, Leicester’s Thai owners are now considering selling the club,” he continued.

“That ties in with the secret Fox, who I’ve had a conversation with, doesn’t mean they are going to be sold.

“My understanding at present is the owner is being stubborn and has an unrealistic valuation of the club.

“I’m not trying to stereotype anybody or anything, but that was also the case with Dejphon Chansiri, the Thai owner of Sheffield Wednesday.

“And eventually his hand was forced because the club was unable to pay the day-to-day bills.

“Now, Leicester have sold quite a few players over the course of the summer, so I think they’ve estimated to have generated somewhere in the region of £40 million, that might be sufficient to see them through, they’ve got a second year of parachute payments.

“But, they’ve taken an advance on those parachute payments from the looks of things from Macquarie, so watch this space.”

Maguire also claimed that a fair valuation of the Foxes could be around £150 to 200 million if they’re in the Championship, but that there is an added complication with them being in League One.

He compared the situation to Sunderland, who took three years to get from the third tier back to the second division.

And ultimately, any club is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it, and it remains to be seen what kind of offers could come in from prospective buyers at this stage.

Leicester will begin their League One campaign on 15 August with a trip to face Notts County.

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Leicester’s financial picture will deter potential buyers

Leicester are in such a tricky financial position, which has played a direct role in their relegation to League One.

And the amount of debt that they now carry could put off potential investors, and it will drag down the price somebody might be willing to pay to buy the Foxes.

It is vitally important for the club that they can win promotion as quickly as possible, as being in the third tier will only make matters worse for them financially.

Leicester are a club with a lot of potential, and they have won major honours like the Premier League and the FA Cup in the last 10 years, so they should be an attractive proposition for buyers in an ideal world.