Keith Wyness reacts as Aston Villa owner Nassef Sawiris ‘cuts ties with new move’
Aston Villa’s success has been bankrolled by billionaire duo Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, who took over at the club in 2018.
The Midlands giants have been restored to the top of the Premier League since then and will play in the Champions League quarter-finals this week.
But as per Bloomberg (1 April), Sawiris – Egypt’s richest person – has cut ties with the UK and moved his residence to Italy after a raft of government changes hit the finances of high net worth individuals.
The report claims the 64-year-old, who also has a stake in Portuguese club Vitoria de Guimaraes, is worth $8.6 billion (£6.73billion).
Aston Villa’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – has revealed what the move could mean for his old side.
Sawiris move to have ‘no impact’ at Aston Villa, says Wyness
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness insisted the change will have “no impact” on Sawiris’ ability to oversee Aston Villa.
Unai Emery’s side sit seventh in the Premier League and will play an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace later this month.
| Position | Team | Played | Points | GD |
| 5 | Newcastle | 30 | 53 | 13 |
| 6 | Man City | 31 | 52 | 17 |
| 7 | Aston Villa | 31 | 51 | 0 |
| 8 | Fulham | 31 | 48 | 5 |
| 9 | Brighton | 31 | 47 | 2 |
Wyness told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “There will be no impact on Aston Villa at all, as I understand it.
“It’s an attractive tax situation in Italy, Meloni has put in a very interesting tax regime for high net worth individuals.
“It’s a payment, I believe, of 200,000 euros a year in return for tax breaks. I think it’s more of a tax situation, than anything to do with Villa.
“It puts him close to the UK, he can hop on a private jet to get into Birmingham easily.
“I don’t see anything to do with Villa, other than he may keep an eye on Serie A a bit more than normal.”
Aston Villa told Ousmane Diomande offer will be accepted
Meanwhile, Football Insider has revealed (6 April) that Aston Villa are plotting an ambitious move to sign Sporting CP star Ousmane Diomande.
The Portuguese side will accept a fee of £50million if they are to sell their star man in the summer transfer window.
Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Man City have all been keeping a close eye on Diomande’s performances.
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