This is most likely a misconception which results from people not understanding how amortization works.
Short version: we book the profit from a hypothetical Gordon sale now, but the cost of any player purchases is spread out over the life of the contract. If we sell Gordon, we can spend more on fees for incomings than the revenue we receive from the sale, and stay within the rules. The problem is that we have to figure out how to balance the books in future years, whether that's from increased revenue, further player sales or simply historical losses coming off the books. The latter can potentially work because the Prem measures our results over three years to determine whether or not we are in compliance with the rules.