Premier League clubs have agreed in principle to the introduction of an overall spending cap for future seasons.

An official vote is set to be held at the next AGM in June, with the new rules set to replace the existing Profit and Sustainability Regulations starting from the 2025-26 season.

It is understood that 16 clubs voted in favour of the new guidelines, with the only three teams voting against the reform being Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa (Chelsea abstained).

The new spending model, dubbed “anchoring”, marks a departure from the league’s current approach and represents a concerted effort to level the playing field among member clubs. 

One option floated is capping spending linked to transfers and salaries to five times that of the lowest-earning club.

A Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) spokesperson said: “We will obviously wait to see further details of these specific proposals, but we have always been clear that we would oppose any measure that would place a ‘hard’ cap on player wages.

“There is an established process in place to ensure that proposals like this, which would directly impact our members, have to be properly consulted on.”