Aston Villa 'desperately scrambling around' after Douglas Luiz update - Borson
Aston Villa are desperately scrambling around to avoid a profit and sustainability (PSR) breach after agreeing a deal to sell star midfielder Douglas Luiz to Juventus.
That is the view of finance expert Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the swap deal for the Brazil international is likely to be less about the players Villa are receiving and more focused around passing PSR as they prepare to submit their accounts on 30 June.
The 26-year-old is expected to make the switch to Turin after Juventus agreed a deal that will see Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea make the switch to Villa Park, with the West Midlands giants also receiving £20million.
Unai Emery’s side are believed to be close to their PSR limit for 2023-24, with Premier League clubs only permitted to make a £105million loss over a three-year period.
Football Insider revealed earlier this month Villa must raise £60million in player sales this summer to avoid a potential points deduction next season.
Aston Villa selling Douglas Luiz to avoid PSR breach
Borson believes the Luiz transfer suggests the PSR rules are not working very well as Villa are being forced to cash in on one of their best players to avoid a potential breach.
“I think Villa are desperate to get profit in following the Luiz deal,” Borson told Football Insider.
“There lies the problem with PSR. You have a situation where they are forced to sell one of their best players in a swap effectively.
“It won’t bring any actual cash into the club, but it will bring some paper profit. That does suggest the rules are not working very well.
“But likewise, they may say those players they are getting from Juventus are high-quality players and they will get a £20million top up on top of that, so maybe that’s a deal they wanted to do.
“But they do seem to be slightly desperately scrambling around to take any one of a number of players from Juventus to make that deal work.
“That suggests it’s not necessarily purely about the players and is partly about PSR and making the required profit that they need to pass PSR for the current season.”
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