Aston Villa on course for '£30m' blow - 'this is problematic'

Aston Villa's struggles so far could see their Premier League prize money drop by upwards of £30million compared to last season.

That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that any upside from Champions League success could quite easily be ruined.

Unai Emery's are enjoying a fine start to the 2026-27 Champions League campaign, sitting third in the table after the opening two matches.

The finance expert has already revealed that an automatic spot in the round of 16 would see the Villans land up to £12.1m, but that could be undone.

Back in the Premier League, Villa are sitting 16th, just two points above the relegation zone, with their only win coming against Tottenham Hotspur.

Of course, Emery is being backed to turn the club's domestic season around already, but if he can't, that's a lot of prize money potential going missing at Villa Park.

Unai Emery warned over Premier League struggles

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson has warned about the dangers of prioritising the Champions League, with each place in the Premier League table worth £3m.

"On the current trajectory where they're going to finish in the league, at the moment, they're going to be way down in league position from last season," he said.

"That is problematic. At £3m a place, you can easily end up losing £30m if you go from what, fourth last season, from memory [to the bottom half].

"They could lose seven places quite easily. It wouldn't be a big surprise. That would be £21m. So that offsets quite a lot of the upside of doing well in the Champions League.

"It's difficult for Villa this season, but it's still very early days. We know they started really badly last season and came back. I think it'll be harder this season given all the changes that they made in the summer."

Where are Aston Villa predicted to finish?

Right now, Villa are two spots above the relegation zone, though that could all change when they travel to St James' Park for the late kick-off on Saturday, 17 October.

Opta's supercomputer has Villa predicted to finish eighth on 51 points, a far cry from their current standing, but even that will be a disappointment.

An eighth-place finish would see the Villans miss out on £12m in Premier League prize money compared to last season when finishing fourth.

The good thing about the new season only being a few games in is that Villa have plenty of time to turn things around at Villa Park.