Aston Villa face painful transfer choice despite securing Champions League spot

15 May 2024 , 18:12

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Aston Villa secured Champions League football, but Unai Emery will still need to sell this summer (Image: Matt McNulty - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

Aston Villa will have to cash in one of their prized assets this summer - despite their Champions League windfall.

The Birmingham club will bank an estimated £50m bonus next season after cementing a spot in the top-four and qualifying for European football’s most prestigious competition.

But it appears that boss Unai Emery will have to sell before he can buy due to the losses run up by the club - or else face a points deduction. Premier League clubs are allowed to post a deficit of £105m in any given three-year period.

Villa are walking a tightrope after declaring a small profit due to the £100m sale of Jack Grealish during the 2021-22 financial year. But their deficit ballooned within the next 12-month period, totting up a mammoth loss of almost £120m.

However, further purchases of £51m club record signing Moussa Diaby and defender Pau Torres at £31.5m have left Emery staring at a financial black hole during the current accounting period.

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And that outlay - along with any overspend on wages - means that even though Villa will bank around £50m from reaching the competition that they will have to make good the loss before their next financial year-end.

And that means they need to offload one of their star performers. Midfielder Douglas Luiz is likely to be a target. As is a man voted the world ’s best keeper, Emi Martinez.

Jacob Ramsey could be sold during the summer transfer window (Getty Images)

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Striker Ollie Watkins will be off-limits after he agreed a new five-year deal earlier this season. The most obvious contender to be shown the exit is homegrown midfielder Jacob Ramsey.

The former England Under-21 international was one of the star performers initially under Emery but two broken metatarsals have curtailed his involvement this season.

As Ramsey is a graduate of the club’s academy the whole fee will be offset against the losses - but even that might not be sufficient to push Villa back into the black.

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Neil Moxley