The Analysis Series: Squad-value financing in football, private credit, unsold players and the return of mark-to-model lending
Prepared by Paul Quinn / CWTE Limited
Date: 16th October 2026
Summary
Squad-value financing is high-cost, short-tenor private credit. It is sized against a mark-to-model estimate of what unsold players might fetch, but in practice it is secured on the club’s whole balance sheet.
It provides liquidity, not solvency or accounting profit. Given the current state of English football, boards and the IFR should treat it as a product that amplifies risk, and should require disclosure, LTV discipline and stress-testing before it scales.
Key messages
What it is and what it costs. Lenders led by…
The skinny
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