The Villans have agreed a €50million (£42.25m) deal with the Serie A giants for the Brazilian midfielder, with Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenchea moving in the opposite direction for a combined €22million (£18.5m) [David Ornstein, 22 June].
That will see the club bank £23.6million to help with their PSR issues and Plumley admitted that the club have to find a way to be active in the market if they want to compete in the Champions League, but with UEFA’s regulations they’re in a pickle that means they’ll struggle to do business.
“It’s probably symptomatic of where Villa are at, at the minute,” he exclusively told Villa News.
“What I mean by that is that you’ve got into the Champions League and that’s going to generate you a significant amount of revenue going into the next year. Some of that you can choose to spend in the market if you want to.
“But to try and compete in that competition you’ve almost got to spend it, and then you’re into conversations about if we do spend you’re absolutely right looking at UEFA’s regulations now, you’ve got to factor in not just the transfer fee and how that breaks down per year, the amortization charges per year off the back of the contract, the wages and the agent fees, so you have to be aware of that whole picture.
“Of course that’s done on a yearly basis so we’ll have to add that out and run the calculations, but you do have to be more mindful of that breakdown than before and I guess what that means for Villa as I say is, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. That squad will need a bit of work to compete in that competition, and in many ways you’ve got to be mindful of the regulations in that competition aswell.
“So it’s a tough spot for Villa, but I get the sense they will spend a little bit because they’ll feel like they have to.”
Aston Villa being punished for Premier League success by UEFA
Aston Villa had an absolutely phenomenal Premier League campaign in 2023/24 under Unai Emery, claiming a spot in the Champions League for the first time.
But as a result they are being met with being forced to sell a top player to ensure they don’t breach PSR and FFP rules with the Premier League and UEFA and it just doesn’t seem fair.
However, the rules are the rules and now those in charge have to find a way to both comply with the rules and also strengthen the squad at the same time so Emery isn’t left short in the big competition.
Bringing in two players with European experience for a key midfielder isn’t great, but getting a good fee on top of that and with more incomings expected once the new cycle starts on July 1, it will be very interesting to see how the club go about their work.
In other Aston Villa news, the club have secured more bottom-line profit as a transfer exit was completed.
