Matt Maher
Published11th Apr 2026, 08:00 BST
On Thursday night, Villa took a big step toward their second European semi-final in three seasons.
On Friday morning, the story on the back of two national newspapers was about how, this summer, they might be forced to sell one of their best players.
If ever you wanted to understand why, for Villa supporters, joy of their success under Unai Emery continues to be tempered by a dollop of frustration, there it was in a nutshell.
No matter how well things are going on the pitch, it forever feels like they are fighting against the tide off it.
Stories about potential bidding wars for Morgan Rogers are the type which will always rankle with fans.
But to be frank, they have also felt inevitable for some time. Everything you have read this week about Rogers, tallies with conversations had over recent months heading toward a summer which again won’t be straightforward for Villa, regardless of whether they qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Sure, in an ideal world they do not want to sell the England international. This is the same club which fought to keep Jack Grealish, even when Manchester City triggered his £100m release clause. They’ll do their best to keep Rogers and if there is any way of doing so, they will.
But placed against that is the cold, hard reality of the Premier League and Uefa’s financial fair play rules to consider.
Villa recently confirmed a post-tax profit of £17million for last season, a result which on paper was a marked improvement combined losses of more than £200m over the previous two campaigns.
Except the profit was only achieved by the sale of the club’s women’s team, along with the rights to the new Warehouse complex next to the ground.
Villa’s operating loss still clocked in at more than £80m, in a year when they recorded record-breaking revenues of nearly £380m thanks to their Champions League participation. For evidence of how the latter is no silver bullet when it comes to financial fair play, look no further.
The operating loss is of particular note when it comes to Uefa’s stricter, football earnings rule of which the club has already previously fallen foul.
European football’s governing body does not allow the sale of fixed assets to be included in their financial workings, meaning rather than a profit, Villa actually logged losses of £85m under their rules.
For a club already on the naughty step, bound by the terms of a settlement agreement which followed the prior breach of FER and squad cost ratio regulations, that poses a problem most easily solved by player trading.
Rogers, still aged just 23, comfortably represents Villa’s most saleable asset, along with England team-mate Ezri Konsa. Forwards, of course, will always have a higher market value than defenders.
Villa boss Unai Emery.placeholder image
Villa boss Unai Emery. | Getty Images
There will be some who say this is nothing particularly new. You can pretty much count on one hand the number of clubs in world football which aren’t “selling clubs”. Should Villa sell Rogers this summer for a fee of more than £80m, the onus will be on them to properly reinvest it, just as when they sold Grealish nearly five years ago.
The difference here is to a large extent it feels the club’s hand is being forced. Two of the clubs keeping track of Rogers, Chelsea and Manchester United, are ones they have outperformed since Emery’s arrival.
Consistent high finishes in the Premier League, along with deep runs in Europe, should have them operating from a position of strength but still they are vulnerable, due to rules which attach too great a value to revenue and therefore puts the greatest power in the hands of the “Big Six” regardless of performance on the pitch.
The presence of Chelsea among Rogers’ suitors particularly sticks in the craw. This is a club which recently announced record pre-tax losses of £262m for last season. Bearing in mind profit and sustainability rules permit losses of just £105m over three years, you might well wonder how they have avoided a breach?
The answer is because spending on infrastructure, the academy and other items can be deducted from the PSR calculation. Yet the fact the latter figure is never reported, does not help when it comes to transparency. As a general point, too many of football’s financial rules feel designed for the benefit of accountants. The rest of us are just left looking on, scratching our heads.
New regulations coming into force from next season should be easier to follow.
The Premier League’s squad cost ratio rules will permit clubs to spend a maximum 85 per cent of their revenues on wages, agents’ fees and transfer fees.
But it won’t mean that much for Villa, who are already restricted to a 70 per cent limit under Uefa’s far tighter rules, while the fact the regulations are still wedded to income means the advantage still lies with the elite.
Should Villa finish in the Premier League’s top-five this season it will continue their most consistent run of success since the second half of the 1990s.
Back then, their failure to kick on could largely be put down to their own failings and just maybe the lack of ambition from those running the club.
These days, the desire for success cannot be disputed, whether it be from Emery or ownership. Instead, it is increasingly hard to escape the sense it is the rules which most threaten to scupper their dreams.
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