Aston Villa have ‘big’ PSR issue after £119m confirmed news – Stefan Borson
Aston Villa have “big” PSR issues because their wage bill is set to soar after they qualified for the Champions League.
That is the view of finance expert Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that many of Villa’s first-team players will have clauses that increase their wage after reaching the Champions League.
Unai Emery’s side upset the odds to finish the 2023-24 Premier League season in fourth place and qualify for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
The Birmingham-based side will hope that prize money earned from the competition will help soothe their PSR problems after they announced a £119million loss in their 2022-23 accounts.
Villa suggested that the allowable losses under PSR should be increased to £135million but top-flight clubs voted against the proposal this week.
As revealed by Football Insider, Villa now face a £60million crisis with the club needing to raise money this summer to avoid a points deduction.
Aston Villa contract clauses will add to PSR crisis
Borson explained that the contract clauses attached to Champions League qualification will only add to the club’s PSR issues.
“Villa are another club that has a PSR issue for this season despite the fact that they qualified for the Champions League,” Borson told Football Insider’s James Murray.
“There’s a good chance they’ll have an issue for next season as well because what is likely to happen is they’ll have an uplift in wages from the Champions League.
“A number of players will have a wage uplift within their contracts.
“On top of that, they will still want to invest in the squad this summer which will drive amortisation costs up.
“So Villa have some big issues in terms of the way PSR is framed at the moment.
“Therefore it was not a surprise that they were seeking to have the limits increased by £30 million.“
In other news, Aston Villa ‘very close’ to points deduction – Keith Wyness
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