Stefan Borson details Aston Villa spending ‘issue’ as £100m+ blow revealed
Aston Villa have performed well on the pitch over the past couple of years despite facing issues complying with the spending rules.
Football Insider previously revealed Villa’s revenue had surpassed £350million for the first time last season following their exploits in the Champions League.
That has been backed up by figures released in Deloitte’s 2026 Money League, where it reported Villa posted a new club-record revenue last season, with their turnover increasing from £276m in 2023-24 to £378m.
However, Villa have still been restrained in the ongoing transfer window due to their settlement agreement with Uefa after being fined £9.5m last July for breaching the governing body’s financial rules.
Why Aston Villa are unable to trigger huge spending spree
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Villa’s “issue” is complying with the squad cost control rules (SCR).
Under the SCR rules, which are due to come into effect in the Premier League next season, clubs competing in Europe are only permitted to spend 70 per cent of their revenue on squad costs.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “I think Villa’s issue remains on squad cost control and squad cost ratios. Yes, wages to revenue is now in the zone of acceptability at 71 per cent, but that’s not the test for squad cost ratios.
“You have to include two elements at the moment we don’t know. In terms of the revenue side, one is player-trading profits.
“So, you’ll look at the last three years there and average it. They’ll have something in there like maybe £50m.”
Deloitte revealed Villa’s wage bill increased from £252m to £268m last season.
How Aston Villa’s player costs have increased
Borson suggested player amortisation at Villa Park could have reached up to £110m in 2024-25.
“The big unknown at the moment is where they are with player amortisation,” said Borson.
“We know that it was around about £90m going into 2024-25. We know that they bought player assets of about £180m maybe. On top of that, you’re probably looking at agent costs and everything else, so it probably took it to about £200m.
“So, we know that on the five-year amortisation basis, they added something like £40m of player amortisation per annum in into 2024-25. We’ll see what that number looks like, but obviously you also sell some players.
“I would think that they were doing in 2024-25 between £100-110m of player amortisation, so you’ve got to add that onto the wage bill in terms of the squad cost ratio calculation. I still think that they’ve got some challenges.”
Villa are well placed to secure a return to the Champions League for next season, with Unai Emery’s side currently sitting third in the Premier League table.
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