CONCERNED Gareth Southgate fears financial fair play rules could damage his European Championship hopes as stars face burnout from extra money-consuming friendlies.

Tottenham and Newcastle have an end-of-year tour to Australia ahead of the tournament, with James Maddison, Kieran Trippier and Anthony Gordon.

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After Saturday’s friendly against Brazil, England will play Belgium on Tuesday.

But boss Southgate is facing his worst injury crisis and Harry Kane looks set to miss both.

With fears that more Premier League teams will also head abroad in May, there are concerns that other stars will suffer injuries or fatigue.

Asked about Tottenham’s controversial match against Newcastle in Melbourne on May 22, Southgate said: “It’s going to happen more and more.

“Why? Financial Fair Play means that clubs must generate money.

We are in a bizarre world where there is more money in the game than ever before and yet everyone is trying to make more money.

“The normal way to do that is to play more games, so is that good news for us in terms of preparation? No.”

Kane, Jordan Henderson and Cole Palmer are absent on Saturday, while the battered Bukayo Saka returned to Arsenal.

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And Southgate added: “We have around 40 players and a third are not available for this match, which is the most ever.”

Kyle Walker will captain the Three Lions in Kane’s absence.

And Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney will have a chance to take the lead.

Kane has missed just one international in the last two and a half years – the 1-0 win over Australia in October.

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NOTTINGHAM FOREST has been hit with a four-point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules, according to reports.

The sanction pushes the club into the relegation zone.

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Forest were 17th with 25 points and have now dropped to 18th with 21 points, according to The Guardian.

They were charged in January with breaching the Premier League’s PSR rules in the 2022/2023 season.

Under Financial Fair Play rules, clubs cannot lose more than £105 million over three seasons.

This year is Forest’s second in the top flight but they have not escaped punishment after being measured against both Prem and EFL regulations.

While in the Championship they were not allowed to lose more than £61 million per year.

Since their promotion through the 2022 play-off final, they have split the money between 42 players.

They have broken their transfer record three times for Taiwo Awoniyi, Morgan Gibbs-White and Ibrahim Sangare.

In their case against the independent panel, Forest are said to have argued that they had only broken the rules for two months when they filled their accounts between June 30 and September 1.

They had only received the first installment of the £47.5 million owed by Tottenham from the sale of Brennan Johnson in a deal completed on 1 September.

Forest are likely to appeal and have 14 days to present their case.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are the second team to receive a deduction, after Everton gained six points.

They had originally taken ten off their total, but this was reduced after a successful appeal.

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CHELSEA are said to be concerned that sacking Mauricio Pochettino could lead to the club breaching Premier League spending rules.

Owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake have spent more than £1 BILLION on new players since taking over in the summer of 2022.

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It was hoped that the huge expenditure would help ensure a return to the Champions League, along with the financial rewards that would bring.

But they are currently in the bottom half of the table after the dismal 4-2 home defeat to Wolves.

Despite reaching the Carabao Cup final, where they faced Liverpool, fans have turned on boss Pochettino after their terrible performances.

Jose Mourinho is rumored to return to Stanford Bridge for a third time as pressure mounts on the Argentine.

But Pochettino still has eighteen months left on his contract.

And now the Daily email has claimed that serious financial concerns over Pochettino's sacking have emerged as a major factor.

They argue that sacking him and his large backroom team would cost more than £10m, with any pre-June payout counting towards the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for this season.

Chelsea are already struggling given the huge transfer costs and their cause was not helped by their failure to offload homegrown talents such as Armando Broja and Trevoh Chalobah on a permanent basis last season.

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Under the rules, clubs can lose up to £105m over three years.

There are a number of exceptions that clubs can take advantage of, but this does not include severance pay for dismissed managers.

Boehly and the rest of the ownership group have already paid more than £20 million in compensation for getting rid of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.

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ARSENAL could have signed a top striker in January to boost their title push.

That's according to a Financial Fair Play expert, who claims that money was available for Mikel Arteta last month.

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Arsenal will be hoping to go one step further than last season and top the table for the first time since 2004.

But without an established goalscorer, they are currently five points behind leaders Liverpool.

Arsenal were heavily linked with a mega-money transfer for Brentford's Ivan Toney this winter.

Napoli star Victor Osimhen was another star on Arteta's list.

And Arsenal also retained a stake in Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic.

Yet the Gunners were left empty-handed due to reported FFP restrictions.

However, financial expert Stefan Borson insists this was not the case.

Appears on talkSPORThe stated that Arsenal's owners could have invested in more equity.

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That would have taken their spending limit from £15 million to £105 million.

And with those amounts, Arsenal could have signed any striker of their choice.

Borson explained: “You have a combination of teams that have chosen not to spend money, so those are teams like Arsenal.

“Because Arsenal could have spent money if they wanted to.

'If they invested in the necessary equity they could increase their cap to £105 million, up from the £15 million it is now.

“But they chose to stay out of the market. It is always very difficult to calculate the exact amount (that they could have spent).

“Certainly tens of millions of pounds for a player, they could have bought the striker that everyone thinks they need.

'If they had chosen to do that, the owners would have had to inject a very significant amount of equity.

“They should have put their hands in their pockets and ultimately, like most in the game around Europe, I think there is a limit.

“And people say, 'I actually don't want to do it anymore.'

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