FFP may force Aston Villa's hand in Grealish saga amid '£500m' reveal - Maguire
Trading losses at Aston Villa over the past decade have totalled over £500million - and that makes them more likely to cash in on Jack Grealish.
So says finance boffin Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider amid the latest developments in the Grealish transfer saga.
This site revealed yesterday (31st July) that Man City are lining up a medical for the playmaker as they look to finalise a £100million move.
That comes after Football Insider first broke news on 23rd July that the Villa skipper has already agreed a "huge"contract with City.
Villa are understood to be resgined to letting the 25-year-old go.
Maguire revealed the astonishing extent of their trading losses over the past decade and claimed they could have an effect on Grealish's future.
"There are two issues with regards to Aston Villa," he told Football Insider correspondent Adam Williams.
"First of all, there is a cash issue. Since Sawiris and Edens became involved, they have shored up the balance sheet.
"From a cash necessity point of view, there is no pressure to sell. But the other issue is financial fair play.
"It cost Villa a lot of money to get up to the Premier League. If we take a look at their trading losses, excluding players sales and the sale of the stadium and so on, they have lost over £500m over the past 10 years.
"The vast majority of that time, they were in the Premier League. So despite being a top-flight team and despite being in receipt of parachute payments when they weren't, they have still lost a huge amount of money.
"That goes to show that Randy Learner and Tony Xia led them into an abyss.
"But the new owners have backed the managers. The issue now is financial fair play."