Need to sell out in summer?
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Despite a remarkable Premier League season, Aston Villa fans haven’t exactly been feeling good about themselves lately. On Sunday, Unai Emery’s team, which was in fourth place, was defeated 0-4 (0-0) in front of their own fans by Tottenham Hotspur, a Champions League contender. And it wasn’t the only bad news the Midlands club’s supporters have had to deal with recently.
Just a few days earlier, the club had published its latest financial results for 2022/23, which highlighted how much a place in the top four would mean for the ambitious team. After a small profit of £0.4m (€0.5m) the previous year, Villa’s finances have gone in the opposite direction 12 months later and the club has a huge loss of £120m (€141m). . €). According to football financial journalist Swiss Ramble, the club lost no less than £420m (€493m) in the 10 years prior to recent results – the highest deficit of any Premier League club in that period. And when we look at the club’s activities in the transfer window, it becomes clear how precarious the club’s situation can be.
Since 2019/20
Premier League clubs with the highest transfer losses
To the statistics
If you look at Villa’s signings and sales over the last five years, you’ll see that the Premier League club has spent around €603 million on new players since the start of the 2019/20 season. This makes Villa the club with the sixth-highest transfer spending in the league. The real problem for the Midlands club, however, is that they only made €219m from player sales in that period, meaning their net spend in the transfer window over the last five years is €383m. This puts the club in sixth place among the clubs with the highest transfer deficit and ahead of Manchester City and Liverpool.
Villa’s biggest weakness is selling players for significant sums. Although the club’s revenue of €219 million is a larger figure, it is a little misleading considering that 54 percent of that came from a single move – Jack Grealish’s €118 million transfer to Man City in the summer of 2021 In addition, the club has only sold one player for more than €20m in the last eight seasons – Cameron Archer moved to Sheffield United for €21.5m at the start of this season.
And there is little doubt that Villa are aware of the need to address this imbalance. The club spent just €18.5m on new players in the January transfer window, with Emery more or less given a pass due to the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules. “We are trying to comply with Financial Fair Play and at the same time keep the best players in our squad,” said the Spanish coach. “But of course we are not averse to selling someone if a very good offer comes along and it gives us the opportunity to improve our FFP position. We will work with respect for the rules.”
While that remark set off alarm bells for Villa fans, it was perhaps a well-placed warning of what could lie ahead for this team in the summer transfer window. Emery has a number of stars in his team who can be sold – most notably Ollie Watkins (market value: €60m), Jacob Ramsey (€42m) and Douglas Luiz (€60m). The latter is being tipped as a potential €100 million summer sale if England’s biggest clubs show serious interest in the Brazilian talent. Villa have spent a lot of money to get to their current position, but now they could be forced to sell some star players and make money before the start of next season.
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