Champions League football is a genuine possibility for Aston Villa next season.
Unai Emery’s side occupy fourth spot and are well-placed to join Europe’s elite in the 2024/25 campaign.
Now, it feels as if it’s Villa’s to lose.
The financial boost of the Champions League cannot be understated – and the increased revenue could ease growing concern in the West Midlands.
Over the past three seasons, Villa have been leveraging the Jack Grealish transfer fee to comply with Financial Fair Play rules (The Athletic).
The arrival of Emery has been a success; there can be no denying the Spaniard’s impact. However, ensuring the manager’s high standards are met has led to a delicate balancing act financially. Aaron Ramsey, Cameron Archer, Jaden Philogene and Keinan Davis have all been let go to satisfy financial demands.
The Athletic even suggests that Douglas Luiz or Boubacar Kamara could be offloaded to meet FFP regulation this summer, with the Grealish safety net slowly closing.
One thing that could transform Villa’s summer planning and ease concern is Champions League football.
Aston Villa FFP concern lessened
Dan Plumley, sports finance lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, suggests that qualification to Europe’s elite competition could prevent further player sales.
“I think that’s a fair assumption [Champions League football easing FFP concern],” he told Aston Villa News.
“Getting in the Champions League is worth £50million to an English club if you get into the group stage directly.
“That’s because the co-efficient of the Premier League is so strong, and the market pull for broadcasting is so strongly aligned to English football.”
Plumley also explained that Villa won’t get as much compared to other English clubs due to their 10-year coefficient.
He added: “They won’t get as much as other clubs in the Champions League in the first season because some of it’s based on their 10-year coefficient with UEFA, and of course, they haven’t been competing in Europe.”
Nevertheless, the increased revenue could positively impact player sales, with the necessity to sell Luiz and Kamara significantly lessened.
“Even for a club like Villa you can almost set your stall out for a £50million uplift in revenue. If you’ve got that, then the conversation around player sales is going to be less of an issue because of the money coming in,” Plumley added.
“Also, if you are in the Champions League, you are looking to invest in your squad to sell. So wherever Villa finish in the table will be a big contributing factor to what happens with their squad over the summer.”
