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Unai Emery joined Aston Villa in 2022
Aston Villa and Newcastle United supporters voiced shared frustrations at Villa Park on the season’s opening weekend, unified in their stance against the Premier League’s financial regulations.
These fans, perhaps more than any others in the league, feel particularly impacted by the competition’s profit and sustainability rules, which they allege safeguard the interests of the established ‘big six’ clubs: Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Liverpool.
The explicit nature of their chants left little room for interpretation regarding their discontent, and Villa’s traveling support reiterated these sentiments during the team’s recent 1-0 defeat to Brentford, underscoring a shaky start to the season.
With the acquisition of £30m Ivory Coast forward Evann Guessand marking Villa’s only significant first-team addition this summer, it is evident that Unai Emery’s squad has been constrained by these financial stipulations.
However, the question remains: to what extent has the club contributed to its own financial challenges?
Aston Villa, like all Premier League teams, must adhere to the profit and sustainability rules (PSR) to avoid potential points deductions.
These regulations stipulate that clubs cannot exceed losses of £105m over a three-year assessment period.
Following points deductions for Everton and Nottingham Forest in the 2023-24 season, all Premier League clubs, including Aston Villa, were compliant in the subsequent campaign.
Nevertheless, Emery’s side has been compelled to part ways with several prominent players, including Douglas Luiz, Jhon Duran, and Leon Bailey, in an effort to maintain compliance.
This comes despite the club’s resurgence under Emery, who guided them to a seventh-place finish in the 2022-23 season after succeeding Steven Gerrard mid-season, and subsequently secured Champions League qualification the following year.
Last season, Villa narrowly missed out on consecutive Champions League qualifications, finishing sixth due to an inferior goal difference compared to fifth-placed Newcastle United.
Having signed Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio on loan on significant wages in January, the club aimed to secure a Champions League spot to justify their spending.
However, failing to achieve this has strained the club’s finances, limiting their capacity for squad investment.
Former Aston Villa defender Micah Richards commented on BBC Match of the Day: “They need a little bit of freshness.
“With all the hard work they have put in over the years – I was in a team that was relegated so to see the transformation to now, getting into the Champions League, but they can’t buy any players, it is ridiculous and having to sell academy players as well. It just doesn’t sit right.”
The Premier League’s financial regulations are intended to foster financial stability by preventing excessive expenditure, with the aim of preventing clubs from collapse.
However, a point of contention within these rules is the ‘pure profit’ that can be realized through the sale of players developed within a club’s academy.
Since 2020, Premier League clubs have collectively generated over £1.9bn through the sales of academy players, with Aston Villa accounting for the second-highest amount (£246m) behind Chelsea (£365m).
Effectively, selling a player nurtured by the club yields greater financial benefits than transferring a player acquired from elsewhere.
“You’re killing the game for young local players who want to play for their team. It is so unfair that they are the bail-out,” former Villa defender Stephen Warnock told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“The only way Villa can now progress is make the stadium bigger, get more people into the stadium and commercially hope that brings extra money.
“Can Aston Villa develop? Can they go anywhere with the PSR restrictions that are in place. That’s a real issue.”
Former England striker Alan Shearer commented on BBC Match of the Day that Villa are being “hampered” by the regulations.
“PSR doesn’t sit well with me in terms of what they can and can’t spend. Emery has had six windows and they’ve made a £10m profit,” Shearer said.
“PSR wasn’t brought in for this situation when they have an owner with money – like Newcastle.”
Jacob Ramsey became the latest Villa academy graduate to be sold, joining Newcastle in a £40m deal on 17 August.
Villa captain John McGinn criticized the league’s financial rules following Ramsey’s departure, stating: “A sad day losing a top player and person and one of our own but it seems to be the way football is set up these days!”
While Villa has faced difficult decisions to comply with the rules, they are not alone in this regard.
Arsenal have let go of academy products Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe; Manchester United sold Scott McTominay, Anthony Elanga and Dean Henderson; while Manchester City allowed Cole Palmer to join Chelsea. For their part, Chelsea have sold Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher and Tino Livramento.
Since their return to the Premier League in 2019, Aston Villa have spent over £700m.
However, the primary constraint on Villa’s spending is their wages-to-revenue ratio, which stood at 91% in 2024.
In contrast, Tottenham spent less than half (46%) of their revenue on wages, while Manchester United and Arsenal were slightly above half (51%).
In Villa’s position, the club faced a challenging decision.
Should they continue to invest in high wages to attract potentially superior players who could facilitate Champions League qualification, or should they reduce the wage bill, theoretically weakening the squad?
Aston Villa’s wages-to-revenue numbers between 2020 and 2024
Villa were fined £9.5m by Uefa in July for violating the European governing body’s financial regulations last season, including exceeding the permitted 80% of income on player wages.
Reports indicate they have also agreed to sell their women’s team to parent company V Sports to comply with PSR limitations.
“There are rules which are pretty much unfair if you ask me,” said Villa captain McGinn when asked about PSR earlier this month. “We have got owners who want to invest in the team and want to spend to kick the club on, but they are not allowed to do it.”
Since Emery’s appointment in November 2022, he has overseen six transfer windows.
During this period, Villa’s net spend has been negative, with the club generating £10.7m more than they have spent.
In comparison, Chelsea’s net spend has exceeded half a billion pounds during the same timeframe.
However, Uefa’s regulations differ from those of the Premier League, and Villa must maintain compliance over the next three years to avoid a further fine of £12.9m.
Following the defeat against Brentford, Emery acknowledged that the club may need to sell more players before acquiring others.
“We have to clarify some circumstances we have in the transfer window,” said the Spaniard.
“We have enough players, but we need to clarify with some players if they are staying or not, and the possibility we can add some to help us.”
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