Aston Villa are one of many clubs who are dissatisfied with the Premier League’s spending rules after being hamstrung by PSR regulations.
Aston Villa’s summer was dominated by adhering to PSR rules. The Villans accumulated almost £120m in losses during the year 2023, which meant they had to take relevant action to prevent being sanctioned.
Monchi had to raise enough funds to prevent breaching PSR by June 30th and the sale of Douglas Luiz to Juventus was pivotal to achieving that goal.
Villa also sold other stars during the transfer window, most notably Omari Kellyman to Chelsea and Moussa Diaby to Al-Ittihad for a combined total of around £70 million.
The above sales of academy and first-team stars enabled Unai Emery to strengthen his squad, and although he successfully managed to do so, there is another reason why they are now dissatisfied with one rule.
Why Aston Villa are on Man City’s side in the APT vote
Introduced at the start of 2021, and updated at the start of 2024, the associated party transactions (APT rules) were put in place to ensure every transaction, including sponsorship deals, managerial bonuses or player transfers between two ‘associated parties’ is conducted at ‘fair market value’.
These regulations were brought in shortly after Newcastle United were taken over by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and further criticism was encountered by Man City, another state-owned club.
The Citizens launched legal action against the Premier League over the latest amendment of the rules in June 2024 and won a battle in October after the league had blocked two of their sponsorship deals from going through.
Top-flight clubs were set to vote on Friday over changes to financial rules but Villa have joined City in wanting a postponement, and TBR Football Finance Expert Adam Williams has explained why.
“Villa have buddied up with City on a number of occasions now, so it’s no surprise to see them do so again,” Williams said.
“They are one of the clubs who spends the absolute maximum allowed under PSR and they petitioned to have the three-year loss limit raised from £105m to £135m over the summer.
“That was unsuccessful, ultimately. Whatever you think about PSR, it’s bizarre that they have raised the limit for over a decade given the inflation we have seen both in the game and the wider economy since it was introduced.
“Villa stopped short of being one of the clubs to give evidence in favour of City at the APT hearing itself, but it’s understood that they have their backing generally speaking.
“Everton, Newcastle and Chelsea did give evidence for City. So you have a coalition of five clubs there who you can provisionally assume will vote together.
“The Premier League needs two-thirds of its clubs to pass a vote. So a five-club alliance means you very nearly have a veto. All they need is two more teams to join them or to abstain and they could block it.
“Of course, those clubs ultimately will always vote in self-interest and we don’t know exactly what they will do when push comes to shove. But Villa’s backing could be significant.”
Aston Villa’s partnership with Adidas
The aim of APT rules is to prevent clubs from striking inflated commercial deals with owner-linked entities to circumvent PSR.
In the case of Aston Villa, it’s clear to see why they’re siding with Man City in this vote, as Villa became the latest club to partner with Adidas and co-owner Nassef Sawiris has a 6% stake in the global brand.
Also, it emerged at the start of this month that Villa are going to become the latest Adidas Elite Team from next season, joining the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal as part of this exclusive club.
The current APT rules could impact Villa’s lucrative deal with Adidas as they were deemed ‘unlawful’ and unfairly restricted them from earning revenue.
Therefore, if the vote does go ahead on Friday, hopefully, two-thirds of the Premier League will vote for changes to the current financial rules.
