Aston Villa have been given a total fine of €11m by UEFA having breached their financial rules in recent seasons.
Villa’s concerns were two-fold to start the summer, as with a June 30 deadline to be compliant with PSR, that was our initial worry before a deal was reported to be agreed to sell our women’s team to ensure that we didn’t breach the Premier League’s financial regulations.
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However, there was still the issue of trying to ensure we comply with UEFA’s rules as we looked to reduce our wage bill and overall losses in order to avoid a sanction from the European governing body.
Unfortunately, as expected, Villa have been hit with a fine over their financial position, as it’s reported by The Telegraph that the club has been fined €11m in total for breaching both UEFA’s spending limits in terms of losses over a three-year period, as well as SCR which limits how much the club can spend on wages, transfer fees and other relevant recruitment funds compared to how much revenue we bring in.
While it’s also noted that Villa face a suspended €15m fine over the next three years depending on whether or not we comply, the report goes on to note that club officials have been in discussions with UEFA for some time now and we are said to be confident in our ability to be compliant moving forward while simultaneously also continuing to build a competitive squad to put at Unai Emery’s disposal in the coming years.
It’s going to take a significant effort from both the business and sporting sides of the club, as despite the exit of Philippe Coutinho this week and other expected exits to follow that of Kaine Kesler Hayden and opting not to sign any of our loanees from last season on a permanent basis who were all believed to be among the highest earners at Villa during their time with us, there is seemingly still much more trimming to do in order to bring our wage bill down to an acceptable level.
While more fringe players are expected to leave in the coming weeks, time will tell if any of our most influential individuals are at risk of being moved on to ensure we get ourselves right financially with UEFA. Naturally, getting fined for not abiding by the regulations is not ideal, but if Villa have had constructive talks with UEFA, are taking the necessary steps to ensure we comply and give ourselves the financial flexibility to bring in reinforcements, we’ll hope to end the summer transfer window with a stronger squad compared to the one that we started it with.
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