Keith Wyness shares news on Aston Villa agreeing Donyell Malen deal

Boardroom Consultant AUTHORITY Former CEO of Everton, Aston Villa & Aberdeen; 20+ years executive leadership in the Premier League. FOCUS Club governance, commercial strategy, executive recruitment, and high-stakes football negotiation. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Operational Analytics, including Deep-Data Metrics like Commercial Revenue Growth (CRG), Boardroom KPI Weighting, and Strategic Infrastructure ROI. He provides executive-level analysis to reveal the boardroom reality behind club performance that fans rarely see.

Published on:

08 Jan 2025, 1:30 pm

Aston Villa’s former chief Keith Wyness has insisted the club will need to sell players before they can sign Borussia Dortmund forward Donyell Malen.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs –insisted it is right to strengthen, but claimed they only have "£10-15million" of headroom in Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

Football Insider revealed last week (3 January) that the Midlands giants have opened talks with Dortmund forward Malen over a move to Villa Park.

That move comes with Aston Villa prioritising a move to sign a striker who can also play out wide in the January transfer window.

Malen has made 20 appearances for the Bundesliga outfit so far this season, scoring five goals.

Villa remain in the Champions League this term and are eyeing reinforcements to ensure they can maximise their potential in the Premier League.

Aston Villa must sell before buying Malen as Wyness tells hard truth

Wyness told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “Aston Villa are tight to this deadline.

“I think they’re looking at headroom of around £10-15million at this time.

“If Malen came in, there probably would be someone going out to allow that to happen.

“Villa have got a reasonably strong squad, so they can afford to do that to get the right person in.

“They’re still being run very well, Emery’s got them buzzing away.

“They’ve had a bit of a bad spell, but they are still in contention. They’ve got a big shout with half a season to go.

“I think they will try and refresh the squad this month, but someone will have to go out.”

In other news, Villa "very interested" in re-signing midfield star.

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