Football finance expert offers Leeds United warning ahead of impending cases | OneFootball

Highlights

Football legal expert Dan Plumley has claimed Leeds United should be focusing on more pressing matters than a potential case against Everton.

It has been reported that Leeds are weighing up joining a case alongside Burnley, Southampton and Leicester City, as the clubs look to potentially sue the Toffees if they are found guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules.

Everton face the threat of a points deduction from the Premier League if they are found guilty, which could be compounded by a legal battle with these four clubs.

However, the Whites also have an appeal on their case involving the transfer of Jean-Kévin Augustin later this month.

Leeds will face a hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday to challenge the decision, which ruled in favour of the Frenchman after it was ruled that he was owed $30 million in wages when the Whites failed to complete a permanent move for the forward in 2020, which was apparently supposed to happened when they were promoted back to the Premier League.

What legal advice has been given to Leeds United?

Plumley believes that Leeds have a decision to make over where to put most of their resources as they fight two different legal battles.

The legal expert has claimed that it would be wise for the club to prioritise the battle in the case with Augustin, rather than trying to get anything from the situation with Everton.

“If you weigh the two decisions up in terms of pursuing a case against Everton and this one,” Plumley told MOT Leeds News.

“You’re looking at where you should put most of your money and resources, it’s probably this case as that has the potential to hurt more given the back story.

“Of course, if the club has the resources to go after both then that’s up to them, but if you were prioritising the two, I would be targeting this particular case because it’s more likely to hurt than the Everton situation.

“Tagged on to the Everton situation as we talk right now, things are going pretty well in the Championship so there is a bigger picture play to look at there in terms of maybe promotion back to the Premier League.”

Leeds are currently third in the Championship table following Saturday’s 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle.

Goals from Dan James and Joel Piroe earned all three points for Daniel Farke’s side, who closed the gap to league leaders Leicester City to three points.

There are now just eight points separating Leeds from the automatic promotion places going into the November international break.

Next up for Leeds is a clash with Rotherham United on 24 November.

What next for Leeds United’s legal cases?

Leeds’ court case with CAS regarding Augustin’s transfer situation is on Thursday, so is now an immediate concern for the club.

A decision is expected soon regarding the Everton situation, so everything may be coming to a head there too as well.

In the Everton case, there are at least three other clubs also involved as they all feel aggrieved by the circumstances involving the Toffees’ potential breach of financial rules.

However, there is no precedent for a case like this in English football so it’s really unclear whether these clubs have any grounds for a legal battle, or if it will be dismissed, meaning their focus should be on the Augustin battle.