'Aston Villa were hours away from a ten-point deduction'

According to the Daily Mail, Aston Villa was just hours away from receiving a points deduction in the summer. Whilst the sale of Douglas Luiz to Juventus was still going through, a real and immediate threat of a points deduction loomed large as the hours ticked down to the end of the unofficial transfer window on June 30th.

Having officially qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in over forty years just a month and a half before, the Villa board members couldn't spend too long celebrating as they knew they had a major job on their hands to ensure Villa didn't break the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

The PSR ruling permits clubs to lose no more than £105 million over a period of three years. President of Football Operations Monchi and Sporting Director Damian Vidagany were in charge of raining a significant sum of money through the sales of Villa's players to ensure the club remained compliant with the rules.

Speaking to Jacob Tanswell, The Athletic, Vidagany explained why the summer transfer window proved so difficult for the club:

""At the end of the season, we found ourselves in a situation where we had to do an important number in profit to avoid being in breach of PSR. It's not just about having to sell the players that are providing profit, but at the same time - and this is the most challenging thing - the players that Unai considers not crucial for the team.""

The sale of Jack Grealish to Manchester City for £100 million in 2021 represented a huge amount of pure profit due to the fact that Grealish was a homegrown product. This summer presented a potentially similar scenario with Jacob Ramsey. Vidagany claimed, "With Ramsey, it would not be at the best price because clubs knew our weakness." With the club desperate to raise funds, offers had arrived for Ramsey but at a much lower price than Villa's valuation. Therefore, the club had to consider whether it was the right choice to move such a talented player on for a much-reduced fee just to solve the issue.

Rather than selling their most talented homegrown player for a low fee, Villa were creative in their ways to resolve their PSR issues. Most notably, Douglas Luiz, who was Villa's Supporter and Player's Player of the Season for 2023, was sold to Juventus for a fee in the region of £42 million. Again, a lower fee than the player's true value. However, with Monchi negotiating a deal Villa received two players from Juventus in exchange. Samuel Illing-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea both arrived and have since gone out on loan. Villa also signed Ian Maatsen from Chelsea whilst Omari Kellyman headed to Stamford Bridge. A similar deal occured with Everton as Tim Iroegbunam signed for the Toffees whilst Lewis Dobbin signed for Villa. By offering players and cash deals with other clubs, a PSR loophole was effectively explored.

Was the Juventus deal a bad one?

Many have claimed that the deal that saw Luiz leave the club and two young players join Villa in return from Juventus was a poor one by the club after those two youngsters headed out immediately on loan deals. However, Vidagany has claimed, "Samuel and Enzo are young players we trust. We maybe knew they wouldn't be ready to play immediately, but both are young, talented, sustainable salaries, and are going to be good assets."

With the hours to the 30th June unofficial deadline ticket down, a deal needed to be finalised which was made difficult by Douglas Luiz being in the USA for the Copa America. Vidagany claimed that a contract and was in America ready to be signed by Luiz to seal the transfer but the Brazilian team's logistics after a match made that difficult also. However, in the end, a deal that took a month to complete due to the complications financially, it was complete and Monchi and Vidagany's sleepless nights had paid off and Villa avoided any point penalties. Yes, Barrenechea and Illiing-Junior have headed out on loan for the season but without that deal taking place Villa would have found themselves in deep trouble in terms of league position.

For more information and insights from interviews with Monchi and Vidagany, head to The Athletic's website for a superb interview with Villa journalist Jacob Tanswell.

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