Exclusive: Aston Villa and rivals eye vital windfall after Chelsea move
Aston Villa are one of several Premier League clubs that are “absolutely likely” to look to make a major sale to themselves.
This is the view of football finance expert Dan Plumley, who exclusively told Football Insider that with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) being such a key factor, he expected other teams to follow Chelsea’s lead and sell their women’s team to the same ownership.
Villa missed out on qualifying for the Champions League after failing to beat a beleaguered Man United side on the final day of the season.
Despite Newcastle and Nottingham Forest also losing, Unai Emery‘s side were unable to capitalise and will participate in the Europa League instead next season.
Qualification for the Champions League group stage alone is worth an estimated £100million [BBC Sport], and the Villains are reportedly in danger of failing PSR, according to The Athletic.
Without the revenue boost from competing in UEFA’s most prestigious competition, the club may be forced to turn to alternative solutions.
Chelsea controversially sold their women’s team to BlueCo, the consortium led by Todd Boehly that owns the West London club.
The team was sold for around £198.7m [BBC Sport], helping them turn their previous £90m loss for 2022-23 into a £128m profit for last season [BBC Sport].
Aston Villa amongst clubs ‘likely’ to sell women’s teams
For a second year in a row, the Premier League looked to close the loophole that allowed Chelsea to avoid a PSR sanction.
But whilst it was rejected in a vote by England’s top-flight clubs last year, it did not even go to a vote this year, as “there was not enough support in the room for the proposal”, according to The Times.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, finance expert Plumley explained why he expects other Premier League teams, including Villa, to look to exploit the same loophole.
He said: “There’s a high likelihood, yes, and if you look at how that’s played out, the clubs were never going to vote on it, really, because Chelsea have done it.
“A lot of them are thinking, ‘well, why can’t we benefit from that if we need to?’
“And if you look at that through another lens, the only club that might have voted on it would have been Chelsea to close the loophole that they’ve benefited from; it was never going to get any traction for me.
“I think you’re likely to see other clubs try and do that, we’ve already heard noises that Aston Villa have been looking at it, that’s been fairly well publicised in the media as well.
“It’s likely that clubs look to do that for sure, because in a world of PSR and it seems to be all we seem to talk about now, particularly around transfer windows, it’s a way to navigate some of that.
“I think it’s absolutely likely that other clubs will be at least talking about doing it, and maybe we’ll see a couple of other examples in the future where it might happen as well.”
Arsenal looking to capitalise on Aston Villa’s PSR nightmare
Mick Brown told Football Insider exclusively that Arsenal are keeping a close eye on Morgan Rogers this summer.
With Villa potentially needing a quick cash boost to avoid a PSR sanction, the club may be forced to cash in on one of their star assets.
The 22-year-old has quickly developed into one of the Premier League’s most talented players and has made four appearances for England.
However, Football Insider revealed in May that despite their precarious financial position, Villa are keen to keep hold of Rogers.