Aston Villa could be hit by crushing financial blow after new twist – Borson
Aston Villa could be close to breaching UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) rules despite their owners injecting £50million of equity into the club.
That is the view of finance expert Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider Villa probably wouldn’t have had the necessary leeway for that cash to be put in as a shareholder loan.
A Companies House submission on 8 October confirmed the Villa owners have invested a further £50million into the club in the form of new shares.
The share issue represents the latest show of support from owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens (NSWE), who have offered their financial support at Villa Park since securing their takeover in 2018.
It comes after Unai Emery’s side were fined £50,000 by UEFA last month for the late submission of financial information.
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) assess clubs against the newly-introduced squad cost rule (SCR), which dictates that a club’s total expenditure on transfers, wages and agent fees cannot exceed a certain percentage of its revenue.
It was 90 per cent for the 2023-24 season, but it will decrease to 80 per cent for the 2024-25 campaign and then to 70 per cent from 2025 onwards.
Villa’s latest published accounts for 2022-23 showed their revenue stood at £217.7million, while they recorded a loss of £119.6million and their wage bill was £194.2million.
Aston Villa need owner investment after recording heavy losses
“At the moment, they lose a lot of money, so they need the cash to be put in,” Borson told Football Insider.
“It can either be put in as a shareholder loan or they can put it in as equity, as they have done here.
“They have chosen not to build up a big shareholder loan, which given the changes that are likely to come into those rules, now appears to be a decent bet.
“But in any event, they probably couldn’t have done the shareholder loan on the back of the UEFA rules because they are probably pretty close to breaching UEFA FFP.
“They probably haven’t got the leeway to put loads of money in as a shareholder loan and account for a market level of interest within their FIFA submissions.”
In other news, Aston Villa chief faces “rude awakening” after Celtic reveal.
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