Exclusive: Aston Villa PSR update as ‘clubs know’ behind-scenes Premier League plan
Aston Villa and other clubs are aware of the Premier League’s plans to make a significant rule change “within a year”.
That is according to football finance expert Dan Plumley, who explained to Football Insider exclusively whether the prospective sale of the women’s team would be enough to escape a PSR sanction.
The Premier League‘s financial year ends on June 30, and clubs will submit their accounts to the league for inspection.
The Villains are expected to be the most at-risk club of a sanction this summer, and missing out on qualification to the Champions League on the final day of the season will only serve to exacerbate that issue.
Sources told Football Insider Villa need to make £30million of player sales to avoid breaching PSR.
Alternatively, the club could look to follow in Chelsea‘s footsteps in exploiting a loophole to avoid sanction from the Premier League at the very least.
The Blues sold their women’s team to BlueCo, who own the West London club, and The Athletic reported on 25 June that Villa were exploring the possibility of selling their women’s team, either to themselves or to external investors.
Premier League looking to move away from PSR
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, finance expert Plumley explained that clubs were aware of the Premier League’s plan to move away from PSR in favour of adopting something more akin to UEFA’s squad cost rules.
However, any changes are still a year away at the very least, and with Villa struggling to be PSR compliant, the senior lecturer from Sheffield Hallam University explained that the club could “probably” sell their women’s team and avoid a sanction.
Plumley said: “In terms of could that number, if let’s say it lands and whatever millions of pounds it is, could that get them out of the situation that they’re in?
“The answer is probably, I think, and we’re not quite sure what the exact number is with Villa in terms of their headroom. We’ve got a good estimate that they are still at risk.
“So that figure could be well and above that and help with that headroom, or it could be in and around it, so it just sort of does the job.
“But again, that’s also against the backdrop of, no PSR charge for clubs this time out, that we’ve seen.
“And also one other thing I would throw into the mix that is perhaps not getting spoken about enough is that the Premier League are pretty confident we’re only going to have one more year of PSR and then it’s likely that they move to UEFA’s squad cost rule with some tweaks.
“That’s another subplot to this that I think is important, because the clubs will know the situation internally as well with what the Premier League are looking to do within a year ultimately.”
Aston Villa exploring all PSR options with first team sales a possibility
Sources told Football Insider that president of football operations, Monchi, was working around the clock to secure a big-name exit from Villa.
Among the names of possible players to be sold are Emi Martinez, Youri Tielemans, and Amadou Onana.
The Belgian midfielder joined last year in a PSR-related transfer from Everton, and if he were to leave, it would mark the second time in his career that the 23-year-old has been sold for financial reasons.
Plumley previously told Football Insider that Villa would likely need outside investment in their women’s team before selling to maximise the value of the team.
Should that investment fail to arrive, the club’s hand may be forced and the Villains could be forced to part ways with a first-team player.