'Hang on a minute' - Aston Villa left reeling while debt-riddled Tottenham now set for 'huge' forward signing
Aston Villa have every right to be incensed by Tottenham's ability to spend at will this summer while the profit and sustainability rules (PSR) continue to prove problematic at Villa Park.
That is the opinion of former senior Aston Villa and Tottenham scout, Bryan King, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.
The Lilywhites have already spent a reported £237million this summer on new arrivals Jan Paul van Hecke, Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes and are now working on signing a forward for another huge sum.
Tottenham's window comes off the back of a season in which they avoided relegation from the Premier League on the final day, while Villa won the Europa League and qualified for the Champions League.
Despite that, decision-makers at Villa Park remain in touching distance with a breach of the PSR, and must again proceed with caution this summer.
The sale of Morgan Rogers has even been mentioned as a potential route to reinvestment in the squad, but Villa insist that he is not for sale.
Bryan King calls PSR into question
For both Villa and Newcastle United, PSR has served as a barrier on the bridge to regular competition for the Premier League.
The Magpies have been hit particularly hard, losing Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon this summer already, with Bruno Guimaraes potentially set to follow.
That is their punishment for failing to qualify for European competition, but Villa went one further by winning the Europa League and still remain hurt by the same issue.
Tottenham, on the other hand, may well spend over £300m this summer, despite having come within a single game of relegation to the Championship.
Speaking to Football Insider, King asked: "Why should the team that hasn't performed on the pitch, who still owe an awful lot of money concerning their stadium, be allowed to freely spend that kind of money when a team who had a bloody good season, won a trophy, finished in the top four, and they've got to watch what they're spending?
"Well, hang on a minute here. Surely a team that's in the ascendancy should be kept in the ascendancy and allowed to spend wisely, not sillily, but spend wisely to strengthen their squad or sell players and bring new players in, freshen up the team, freshen up the club."
"There's a club here trying to improve its club, and they can't," he added. "The club who, for the last two years, has survived relegation by a whisker, and they're allowed to spend this huge amount of money again. They've still got an outstanding debt on the stadium.
"There will be more Tottenham signings to come, a forward has to be signed. And a top forward will cost big as well."
Aston Villa must show intelligence in the transfer window
Villa faced many of the same issues last summer, but even greater due to their failure to qualify for the Champions League.
They relied on loans and cheaper signings, in ultimately a mixed bag of a window.
Victor Lindelof's arrival on a free transfer was undoubtedly a superb piece of business, and Jadon Sancho contributed during his loan.
Evann Guessand and Harvey Elliot are the types of arrivals that Villa must avoid if they are to progress, however.
Both players did very little, with the former Liverpool man an outcast for the majority of the season while Guessand went on loan in January.