Aston Villa pass the PSR test!

As outlined by John Townley, Birmingham Live, the completion of the deal that sees Douglas Luiz head to Juventus will ensure Aston Villa remain compliant with PSR.

Villa have certainly been one of the busier teams in the early stages of the transfer window with incoming and outgoing deals being completed left, right and centre already. This week alone has seen Tim Iroegbunam and Omari Kellyman leave the club with moves to Everton and Chelsea respectively, as well as the arrival of Lewis Dobbin from Everton. It is also very likely that Ross Barkley will be officially announced as a new signing in the next week alongside Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea soon to arrive from Juventus, whilst Douglas Luiz heads the other way.

Aston Villa's President of Football Operations, Monchi, and Director of Football, Damian Vidagany, have been working tirelessly since before the season's end to ensure the club remain compliant with PSR and to attempt to improve Unai Emery's squad. They have been working long hours during the player's off season to try and achieve the impossible tasking of making money on player sales whilst building a squad good enough to compete in next seasons Champions League.

The number one task of ensuring the club don't face the possibility of a points deduction next season can be ticked off the 'To do' list. Having seen fellow Premier League clubs Everton and Nottingham Forest both be deducted points last season for breaching PSR spending limits Villa have had to work hard to ensure they are not in the same position. Thankfully, it is understood that the sale of Douglas Luiz will be enough to settle any nerves about the funds needed at the end of the month.

Once the deal is complete the club can move on to their next objective which is building a squad with greater depth and quality ahead of next season. Once the 30th June PSR deadline is passed Monchi and his team will be able to look ahead more freely and with more flexbility financially. However, the club will remain frustrated by the fact they are in a position of needing to sell top players following a historically successful season.

Having achieved Nassef Sawiris and Wes Eden's five year plan of qualifying for the Champions League it is easy to see why the club feel they are being punished for showing ambition. Aston Villa have just the NINTH highest spend on transfers in the last four years. Compare it to the spend of the Premier League's 'big six' clubs in that time and it comes to a cost of nearly £4 billion. Having finished above the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham last season it clearly isn't right that the club must sell top players as a result of having lower income through revenue, effectively.

Many fans of clubs from around the Premier League have now been claiming that the likes of Aston Villa, Chelsea and Everton are negotiating transfers that make a mockery of the League's financial rules system. Villa have completed deals with Chelsea that sees Ian Maatsen sign for Villa for a fee of £37.5 million whilst Omari Kellyman heads to Stamford Bridge for £19 million. Plus, as mentioned earlier Villa have effectively made a swap deal involving Tim Iroegbunam and Lewis Dobbin with transfer fees involved both ways.

However, the clubs are perfectly entitled to complete these deals and they do not breach any rules within the Premier League's system. Also, after Aston Villa had their proposal to increase the spending threshold from £105 million to £135 million in losses over three-years rejected by 18/20 Premier League clubs, then how can anyone be complaining when Villa are now doing what they can to abide by the rules that are in place? Many are suggesting that Kellyman's move to Chelsea is for a much inflated price to allow both clubs to comply with the rules in place, but in today's crazy market it isn't a massively high fee to pay for Villa's most talented academy product. Elsewhere, £10 million for Iroegbunam who is a midfielder that has proved himself with a full season in the Championship at QPR and £9 million for Lewis Dobbin who is an England youth player are not crazy deals.

Many of the 'big six' have made big sales with players with very few appearances in the past, such as Jordan Ibe and Dominic Solanke at Liverpool, so there is really no reason for fans to be claiming any wrongdoing on Villa's behalf.

Villa fans will now be able to look forward to the many rumours to come regarding potentially high profile signings ahead of the start of their Champions League campaign.

UTV