Exclusive: Aston Villa need outside help after Ohanian’s Chelsea intervention
Aston Villa need outside investment before 30 June to get their finances in order or risk a PSR sanction from the Premier League.
That is the view of football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider exclusively that the Villains will likely follow in Chelsea’s path to avoid failing the league’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
Villa’s failure to qualify for the Champions League, thanks to a 2-0 loss to Man United on the last day of the season, has put the club in an uncomfortable financial situation.
A place in Europe’s most esteemed club competition is worth an estimated £100million in revenue [BBC Sport], and after recording losses of £205.8m between 2022 and 2024 [The Athletic], that cash boost would have gone a long way.
But, Villa do have the option of doing what Chelsea did and selling their women’s team, either to themselves or to another party.
The Blues sold their women’s team for £198.7m [BBC Sport] to BlueCo, the company that owns the club, catapulting the club out of any PSR issues recently.
The Premier League have attempted to close the loophole that Chelsea exploited, but the topic failed to get enough support to even be voted on at the most recent general meeting for the league’s teams, who wished to keep the option open for themselves [The Times].
Aston Villa need help to drive up women’s teams valuation
But whilst the idea of a big cash boost seems too good to pass up on, finance expert Plumley told Football Insider exclusively that the club would likely need an outside investor to drive the women’s team’s valuation up.
Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and husband of tennis legend Serena Williams, invested £20m into Chelsea’s women’s team [BBC Sport], which played a major role in the unprecedented valuation of the team overall when Chelsea sold to BlueCo.
The Premier League’s accounting year ends on 30 June, making the issue of raising funds to avoid a PSR sanction a pressing matter.
Plumley explained when asked if Villa need a similar investment: “Yes, they probably do need that outward investment to drive up evaluation.
“And we know the valuation is fraught with complexity because of the figure that Chelsea has put on theirs and there’s no real market evidence or indicator that that’s a decent value.
“We’re kind of looking at what it could be and it’s really different from club to club and we know that valuation is probably high, certainly in terms of what the market indicators would say.
“That’s going to mean that, yes, probably they would require some external investment to drive that valuation price up if they’re going to go down that road.”
The Athletic revealed that Villa were exploring a sale of their women’s team to either themselves or external suitors on 25 June.
Aston Villa looking to sell players before 30 June deadline
Amidst the mad dash to raise funds, sources have told Football Insider that Aston Villa must make £30m worth of player sales.
If the club are able to get a sale of the women’s team over the line, selling players could become a less pressing issue, but it is still unclear how much the club will be able to make from selling the team.
Sources also told Football Insider on 18 June that Villa’s president of footballing operations, Monchi, is working around the clock to sell a big-name player.
Emi Martinez, Youri Tielemans, and Amadou Onana have all been touted as potentially on their way out, given they would likely be worth enough individually to cover the funds needed.