Aston Villa set to land ‘£70m’ windfall – Stefan Borson
Aston Villa are on course to generate around £70million in prize money this season following their performances in the Champions League.
That is the view of finance expert Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that figure could increase depending on how far they progress in European football’s elite club competition.
Deloitte’s 2025 Money League revealed Villa’s revenue surged from £218million in 2022-23 to a new club-record figure of £265million last season.
But their wage bill also increased from £194million to £252million after qualifying for the Champions League in 2023-24.
Unai Emery’s side were believed to be close to the profit and sustainability (PSR) limit last season, with top-flight clubs only permitted to lose £105million over a rolling three-year period.
Douglas Luiz, Tim Iroegbunam and Omari Kellyman were all sold ahead of the 30 June accounting deadline to ensure the club didn’t break the spending rules.
Villa currently sit ninth in the revamped league phase of the Champions League heading into their final group game against Celtic, where they could book their place in the last 16 with a victory.
Aston Villa could offset losses with Champions League success
“The positive thing for Villa is they are on course at the moment to generate probably £70million so far,” Borson told Football Insider.
“Their target is probably £70-80million. If they keep going in the Champions League, maybe it could be even more. That makes a big difference for this season. It will mitigate the number of sales they need to make before 30 June.
“But they are likely still to be tight because the other part of being in the Champions League is you invest when you go in, so we know that they bought players in the summer that will have increased their amortisation and their wage bill even beyond the £250million.
“The wage bill probably now sits at £300million and the amortisation is probably another £100million. But their revenue is probably still not much more than £350million, so you have got to make up that hole.
“The only way you can do it is either by selling intra-group assets like property. I don’t know if Villa have got anything they can sell to a subsidiary of themselves or the women’s team once we see what happens with the Chelsea women’s team.
“But anyway, Villa’s women’s team is nowhere near as valuable as Chelsea’s.
“The alternative is you have to sell footballers, and that is painful because the sorts of players that are likely to need to go are the young players that will generate most of the profit that you need. We will just have to see with Villa.
“It’s definitely still going to be tight, but they are doing as good a job as you can imagine in the Champions League to bridge that gap.”
In other news, Aston Villa plot late move to sign Besiktas forward Semih Kilicsoy.
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