‘Aston Villa could lose £150m and avoid financial breach’ – Stefan Borson
Aston Villa could lose up to £150million and still avoid a further financial breach after their Uefa sanctions have been revealed.
Uefa confirmed earlier this month Villa have been fined £9.5million, with the potential of a further £12.9million penalty if they fail to comply in a three-year period.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have been fined £26.7million and could be fined a further £51.2million if they don’t comply with the rules in the next four years.
Finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Villa might only pay £5million following their financial breach.
Meanwhile, Villa completed the last-ditch sale of their women’s team last month, helping them raise funds before their accounting deadline on 30 June.
It comes after Chelsea sold their women’s team to owners BlueCo last summer for around £200million, helping them turn their previous £90million loss for 2022-23 into a £128million profit for 2023-24.
However, Uefa rejected the women’s team sale as the governing body operates under different rules to the Premier League.
Aston Villa could face European ban after breach
Borson revealed Villa could be banned from European football for a season if they breach the settlement agreement.
He told Football Insider: “In the case of Aston Villa, there’s a pretty good chance they won’t pay any more than £5million throughout the whole of the period.
“These suspended fines are only related to one particular piece of the past in terms of the settlement.
“Even then, if you only breach that part of the settlement by let’s say £1million, you pay one twentieth of £5million. So, you only ever pay the full £5million in the case of Aston Villa if they breach by £20million.
“Now, obviously if they breach by more than £20million on top of all the allowances that they’ve been given in the settlement agreement, that’s more serious because what then happens is that you breach the settlement agreement and you end up in a situation where you are banned for one season of European football.
“Now, clearly that’s a big deal. But to get to that point, certainly in year one of the test, you would have to have losses of not just the €60million (£52million) that’s permitted under the settlement agreement, but on top of that, the €50million (£43million) broadly of allowances from Uefa for good spending.
“That includes the stadium, the women’s team perversely, even though they’ve sold it, they still have to include that in the reporting perimeter. So, they still get the deduction and the allowance as well. That’s broadly €110million (£95million) that they can lose.
“Then on top of that, they obviously have player sales. So, if you go all the way up the profit and loss in terms of operating losses, they could afford probably to lose £150million and still not breach, so they’re fine.
“It won’t be a problem for them.”
Nicolas Jackson to Aston Villa update emerges
In terms of transfer activity, Football Insider revealed on 20 July Villa are ready to reunite Unai Emery with Nicolas Jackson after the pair previously worked together at Villarreal.
Villa have held preliminary talks with Chelsea over Jackson as they look to bolster their attacking options this summer.
The 24-year-old registered 13 goals and six assists in 37 appearances last season.
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