(Credit: Imago/Manh Tung, Breaking Media)

Ciaran Morrison

Thu 7 May 2026 8:00, UK

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Aston Villa’s 2-1 defeat against Tottenham proved that the club should be able to invest greater in the squad.

That is the view of former Aston Villa chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking to Football Insider, after Unai Emery’s seven changes to his starting line-up for the game backfired.

Emery had one eye on their Europa League semi-final second leg against Nottingham Forest after losing 1-0 at the City Ground.

The Villans have been restricted by financial rules imposed by the Premier League and UEFA in recent seasons in their bid to challenge at the top of the Premier League table and in Europe.

Aston Villa’s need for greater squad depth showed against Spurs, but Emery will face another summer transfer window of needing to sell before he can make any major additions.

Premier League questioned on PSR by expert

Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – says he has “great sympathy” for Aston Villa in the transfer market.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness thinks the Premier League need to “re-evaluate” their financial rules to allow Aston Villa to spend more money on players.

He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I have great sympathy with Villa on this.

“I do think it’s wrong that the top six have had the drawbridge be able to pull up behind them and try and stop the others from competing. If the owners have got the money, there’s got to be a vehicle that they can put money in and not have a problem with that and that should be allowed more.

“We’re not seeing problems of Premier League clubs going bust, not yet, at least with Chelsea anyway, and we’ll have to see how that goes, but I have great sympathy for Villa in terms of that. There should be better mechanisms, and the Premier League should re-evaluate the PSR situation.

“There’s been many discussions about it, but there’s got to be a way to allow people who own clubs to be able to put money in themselves as long as they’re not putting the club at risk.”

Unai Emery update emerges at Villa Park

In concerning news, former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider that Emery could walk away from Aston Villa at the end of the season.

Emery’s side have won just three of their past 12 games, and whilst their Champions League place still looks secure, there is still work to be done in their final three matches of the season.

The Spaniard would want assurances that he can strengthen the squad this summer, but the club face losing key players and could have a battle on their hands to keep Morgan Rogers.

Emery has been manager at Villa Park since 2022, and would be in demand if he was to leave in the summer.