Aston Villa and West Ham United could blow the transfer window wide open with a shock £60 million swap deal.
Aston Villa now have less than a month to complete the majority of their transfer business after a fairly steady start to the summer window.
Unai Emery is determined to bolster his squad in key areas but has been restricted by a host of financial problems. Villa first had to deal with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) by agreeing to the sale of their women’s team to an investor, and now they still have work to do to comply with UEFA’s squad cost rules (SCR).
There are still ways of Villa improving ahead of the new season - and a few games into it come the September 1 deadline - but it will be tricky and will require plenty of thought.
Swap deals could be the way for Aston Villa once again
Bold transfer swap deals became quite the trend ahead of the 2024/25 season as several clubs up and down the division tried to find the best ways to deal with those dreaded PSR issues. There’s no definitive loophole, as such, but teams discovered that buying and selling players to one another in a non-official swap deal was a clever workaround.
Take Villa’s sale of Tim Iroegbunam to Everton, for example. The Villans let their academy product leave for Goodison Park for £9 million, while Toffees winger Lewis Dobbin moved in the other direction for £10 million. Then there was Nottingham Forest’s £35 million purchase of Newcastle United’s Elliot Anderson that saw fringe goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos leave for £20 million.
Out of all four of those deals, Anderson is arguably the only one who has represented any clear value afterwards. It was obvious that many of the transfers - not just the examples mentioned - only went ahead for PSR reasons. As much as they were a little questionable, they were at least within the boundaries.
Which similar deals could go ahead this summer, then? Well, Birmingham World has been taking a look at squads across the Premier League and believes there’s one move, albeit a little left-field, that could work rather well for all parties involved.
Jacob Ramsey and Lucas Paqueta swap deal makes sense
It’s not a swap that’s been speculated just yet, but Villa’s Jacob Ramsey has attracted interest from West Ham United and Lucas Paqueta is a player who has the right attributes to thrive in an Unai Emery system. The West Ham Way reports the Hammers have made Ramsey their ‘number one target’ this summer and there’s a growing confidence at the London Stadium that a deal can be completed.
Villa, perhaps leaning to accept that Ramsey may have to leave to help next year’s PSR situation, could ask for Paqueta in return in a separate transaction. The Hammers rejected an £80 million bid from Manchester City for Paqueta two years ago. Since then, Paqueta has been the subject of a lengthy investigation over a gambling breach.
Although Paqueta has now been proven not guilty and cleared of all charges, his contract has run down since the whole saga began and his form has dwindled – along with West Ham’s on the whole. Paqueta has two years left on his Hammers deal - albeit with the option for a further year - and is, in our view, now worth closer to £60 million.
Although West Ham themselves wouldn’t want to lose a player of Paqueta’s calibre, they could land their number one target in Ramsey and still profit from the situation financially. Villa selling Ramsey for £50 million and then buying Paqueta for £60 million would effectively be a very expensive swap deal. Yes, Villa would be recording a net loss, but the fact that Ramsey is an academy product would compensate for that.
Why Paqueta would fit in at Villa
It’s been well documented that Emery would like to sign an attacking-minded midfielder after a failed permanent approach for Marco Asensio. Paqueta, albeit deployed as more of a number six or a number eight by Graham Potter last season, could be a decent option in the 10 role. If needed, he could also play as the inverted left midfielder, just as Ramsey has throughout the years.
There doesn’t appear to be any way of touching Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara as a formidable duo in Villa’s deep-lying midfield double pivot, but Paqueta could operate from wide or in a more advanced role. The 55-time Brazil international only scored four goals in 33 Premier League appearances last campaign but was still heavily involved.
Emery loves a player with a strong work rate and Paqueta certainly has that. Among attacking midfielders in the Premier League, Paqueta was in the top two per cent for defensive actions throughout 2024/25. In addition, Paqueta was also in the top six per cent for both overall touches and aerial duels won.
With Morgan Rogers likely to play wide or as a number 10 this season, Paqueta could link up nicely. Both have power, energy and a great eye for a pass. They’re both pretty clinical in front of goal, too, providing an exciting prospect in the final third.
Now, it’s worth stressing again that this is merely our opinion at this stage, but West Ham’s huge interest in Ramsey could open the door to such a swap. It may not end up being for Paqueta, it may not end up being a player exchange at all, but never say never. It makes sense, after all.
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