Aston Villa continue to face financial pressure this summer due to PSR, but a loophole could seemingly be exploited to ease our concerns.
Premier League clubs are allowed to make a loss of £105m over a three-year period, and by all accounts, Villa have to raise funds through player sales before the June 30 deadline to ensure that we fall within those parameters and don’t face a sanction.
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We found ourselves in a similar position last summer when we sold Douglas Luiz to address PSR issues, and although the club is working tirelessly to increase our revenue, we remain dependent on selling players to raise the income required to help balance our books.
That in turn has led to speculation around a number of our key players this summer, and so there’s a waiting game this month to see who departs, and for how much, to ensure we not only remain compliant with PSR, but also raise sufficient funds to bring in reinforcements once June has passed too.
That process could be a little less damaging to our squad now though it seems, as The Times report that the Premier League hasn’t been able to prevent clubs from selling assets to acquire revenue and ultimately comply with PSR.
As per the report, Chelsea have benefitted from it in recent times having sold their women’s team and hotels to a sister company, and so with that loophole still open, the other clubs in the English top-flight will surely be looking at exploiting it too, but within reason.
Although there is much to be angered and frustrated about when it comes to PSR and UEFA’s SCR regulations, this feels like an important outcome in this particular instance, as if the vote had gone in favour of closing the loophole, Chelsea would have benefited significantly before the door was closed on the rest of the clubs.
What Villa must be careful with though is that UEFA don’t allow sale of assets to be a factor when it comes to their financial criteria, and so as ever, it continues to be a fine balancing act and a game of numbers with clever accounting seemingly growing in importance in the modern-day game.
President of Football Operations, Monchi, Damian Vidagany and Unai Emery have all spoken publicly previously about PSR and the like being an unfair constraint on clubs with wealthy owners willing to spend to be more competitive, and although the rules will remain in place for another year at least, as per the Times report above, time will tell how far Villa can use this particular loophole to our advantage, and how much of a difference that would make to the predicament we find ourselves in this month.
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