LAURENCE Bassini claims Wanderers could already be starting next season with a 12-point deficit.

The former Watford owner is meeting with the EFL at 7pm this evening to seek assurances over potential punishments in League One.

Sources at Wanderers strongly deny that there has already been an insolvency event at the club, or that it could impact on next season.

Bassini's own bid to buy the club has hit problems and he claims to have discovered an extra £14million of debt on top of that he was expecting when he agreed a deal with Ken Anderson in mid-April.

It is understood that figure could be the future funding undertaking required by the EFL - who ask for potential buyers to provide a business plan for the next two years.

Bassini had previously admitted he had not conducted thorough due diligence on the Wanderers accounts prior to being named as the ‘mystery buyer’ whose assurances helped the club get a second adjournment at the High Court last month.

Now, he says the prospect of a 12-point penalty could be a deal-breaker.

“Anderson tried to put the club into admin and because he did this it triggers off a default, like a breach,” he said. “What that does is it carries a 12-point (deduction). They will go into the new season with the risk of losing 12 points.

“There is also a situation where other clubs are owned money – I don’t know what embargoes and I have requested that information to know what embargoes we are going to be facing. And obviously last week, what happened with the players when they went on strike.

“I don’t want to go into this with a 12-point deduction.

“I am not going to say we might as well sit in admin, but that’s where we’re are sitting at and if that’s the case, in a way, it’s better to go into admin because we’ll save £10million and that’s more to build on the club.

Regardless, Bassini claims he has the finances to buy Wanderers, if he can get information from the EFL.

“I need those assurances and I am ready to go.

“I have got the proof of funds in the format they needed it.

“I wanted to pay the wages for the players and the staff but I am not controlling the mandate.”

Wanderers’ hotel closed its doors on Wednesday with staff unpaid and a lack of resources making the business impossible to operate safely.

“The hotel did not need to close,” Bassini said on TalkSport. “I wanted to clear it up last week, in fact I insisted upon it. I had an extra £200,000 which could have paid all the staff but, no, he had to be stubborn. That is why this club is the way it is and somebody should have stepped in a long time to sort it out.

“There are serious, serious problems there. You just don’t get the correct answers you should be getting.”

Ken Anderson has been contacted for comment.