Unai Emery Nassef Sawiris Aston Villa
(Credit: Hasan Karim - Breaking Media/Imago)
Stefan Borson
Mon 7 July 2025 11:12, UK
Aston Villa have agreed a “risky” deal after they were well over the profit and sustainability (PSR) limit.
The West Midlands giants have faced PSR issues over the past couple of years after spending close to the allowable losses limit, with Premier League clubs only permitted to lose £105million over a rolling three-year period.
Unai Emery’s side posted a club-record revenue in 2023-24 after their turnover increased from £217.7million in 2022-23 to £275.7million, while their losses fell from £119.6million to £85.4million.
Villa completed the last-ditch sale of their women’s team, helping them raise funds before their accounting deadline on 30 June.
V Sports – the club’s holding company – has purchased Aston Villa Women, while a deal has also been agreed to sell a stake in the women’s team to US-based investors at a valuation of around £55million.
Finance expert Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Villa would have needed to sell one of their players had the women’s team loophole been closed by the Premier League last month.
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The Premier League was looking to hold a vote to prevent clubs from selling assets to sister companies at the annual meeting of the 20 top-flight sides in June.
However, the proposal didn’t even go to a vote after it became clear there wasn’t enough support for the motion to pass.
Chelsea sold their women’s team to owners BlueCo last summer for around £200million, helping them turn their previous £90million loss for 2022-23 into a £128million profit for 2023-24.
Aston Villa
Unai Emery avoided losing any of his star players (Credit: Getty Images)
Aston Villa could have been forced into big-money player sale
Borson insisted Villa were well over the spending limit before completing the women’s team sale.
He told Football Insider: “They definitely had a PSR issue, there’s no question.
“I guess the only surprise for people should be the size of the problem.
“If they’ve sold it for £55million, you have to assume that they needed quite a big part of that £55million.
“They weren’t just over, they were well over.
“But I think it’s always been part of the plan, as much as there can be a plan to do these sorts of things.
“They ran a little bit of a risk, of course, because had the clubs voted through a change of the rules in June, that was effective immediately.
“It’s a big if, and probably they were confident that wouldn’t happen and that it wouldn’t get voted through, but had they blocked women’s team sales, then they would have been looking to sell a player for a substantial amount of money in the 30 June window, so they’ll be pleased that they didn’t have to do that.”
Premier League table Aston Villa
Aston Villa finished sixth in the Premier League table (Credit: Hasan Karim – Breaking Media)
Man United turn attention to Aston Villa star
In terms of a potential exit at Villa Park, Football Insider revealed on 4 July Ollie Watkins’s potential move to Manchester United hinges on the future of Rasmus Hojlund.
Watkins has emerged as a transfer target for Ruben Amorim’s side as they look to strengthen their attacking options this summer.
The 29-year-old registered 17 goals and 14 assists in 54 appearances in the 2024-25 season.
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