Aston Villa reportedly face interest in a string of key players this summer with difficult decisions expected having fallen short in our bid to qualify for the Champions League.
Defeat at Old Trafford against Manchester United on the final day of the Premier League season ensured that we finished sixth in the standings, and subsequently will compete in the Europa League next year.
READ MORE: Five key talking points as poor display, controversy cost Villa vs Man Utd
While that is still an excellent achievement as we’ve shown real consistency and progression to qualify for Europe in three consecutive campaigns, it’s ultimately not what was desired, and perhaps needed from a financial perspective, having had a seat at Europe’s top table this season.
Naturally, there is a significant difference in revenue between the competitions, and while speculation was already rife that Villa would have to sell players this summer to ensure we’re complaint with PSR and don’t risk breaching those rules, our inability to qualify for the Champions League will likely make that a more pressing need now.
According to The Athletic, there are interested clubs in Emiliano Martinez, Leon Bailey, Boubacar Kamara, Jacob Ramsey, Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins, and so it will be down to Unai Emery, Monchi and the rest of the management team to decide who we can afford to lose and whether or not that will sufficiently address our financial concerns.
Further, our wage bill will need to be reduced to be in compliance with UEFA’s rules too with that limit being reduced to provide an even bigger challenge for us given we were over it this year, and so there will be a difficult balancing act at Villa once again in the summer transfer window of meeting the necessary financial criteria, while trying to remain as competitive as possible.
We’ve done an excellent job of that off the pitch over the past two years to maintain our standing and ability to compete for the top five positions in the Premier League while going deeper in cup competitions in our pursuit of trophies, but this could be the most challenging transfer window we’ve faced thus far under the current regime.
Villa have loanees returning to potentially play a key role next season, we have talented youngsters looking to make breakthroughs while we’ll have funds from potential sales to reinvest back into the squad and bring in reinforcements to hopefully improve us.
Additionally, we have loanees set to leave when their deals expire in the summer and so that will reduce the wage bill in itself, but time will tell what major sacrifices we have to make in terms of selling players we don’t necessarily want to see leave, while much will likely also depend on the desire of those individuals as to whether they wish to move on this summer now with no Champions League football on offer next season.
