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Aston Villa already have £57m in the bank as officials look to block PSR-dodging deals
For many fans, Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris are dream owners, with the US private equity billionaire and Egyptian business giant spending millions to catalyse success at Aston Villa.
The most obvious result of their investment is participation in the Champions League for the first time since the early 1980s, but the club is coming into bloom away from the pitch too.
They have already pumped money into improvements at Villa Park. And although most of that cash has gone towards lucrative hospitality facilities, there are long-term plans to expand the North Stand too.
Chris Heck, Villa‘s president of business operations, put that project on ice at the start of the season so that construction did not reduce capacity at Villa Park at a time when Unai Emery‘s side are a huge draw.
Villa are 4th in the Premier League and have won three out of three in Europe following Tuesday’s victory over Bologna, which puts them in 1st place in the new Champions League Swiss system format.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 21 |
| 2 |  Man CityManchester City | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 20 |
| 3 |  ArsenalArsenal | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 17 |
| 4 |  Aston VillaAston Villa | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 17 |
| 5 |  BrightonBrighton | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 15 |
| 6 |  ChelseaChelsea | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 14 |
| 7 |  TottenhamTottenham | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 13 |
Edens and Sawiris bought an initial 55 per cent of Villa from previous owner Tony Xia in 2018 and, after increasing their stake to 100 per cent, have now brought Atairos on board as another co-investor.
The private equity firm recently provided £50m of capital for Villa, further illustrating that the tripartite ownership regime are not resting on their laurels and believe greater investment will yield more success.
However, in UEFA and Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), there is a system that means Villa will need to be disciplined and savvy when it comes to how they spend.
Under PSR, academy and infrastructure are exempt from the final calculation. Transfer, wage and agent spending are not.
That has led several clubs to game what they feel is a fundamentally rigged system with accounting sleights of hand such as quasi-swap player deals and lengthy amortisation-busting contract.
Villa have also taken advantage of another loophole in the past, but the latest news from football’s regulatory sphere indicates that option will soon no longer be available to them.
Regulator to axe loophole used by Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris
In 2020, Villa were flirting with the very upper limits of PSR.
To get within the threshold, Edens and Sawiris sold Villa Park to a sister company they also own, with the £57m price registering in their PSR calculation.
They aren’t alone in having exploited the intra-company sales loophole.
More recently, Chelsea have sold two hotels at Stamford Bridge for a PSR profit of £76m, as well as their women’s team for an undisclosed sum believed to be around £150m.
However, in a piece that references the £57m purchase of Villa Park specifically, The are now reporting that the imminent independent regulator for English football will outlaw this practice.
Thankfully for Villa, they have already banked the £57m and registered in their profit-and-loss account.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport outlined a number of changes to the independent regulator yesterday, which have been well received by fans.
The stadium provision was not among those listed in the statement, although the government will release a far more in-depth look at the bill in time.
Incidentally, Villa are vehemently opposed to the regulator, as are almost all of their peers in the Premier League.
Will Aston Villa breach PSR in 2024-25?
Interestingly, the Guardian report claims that it is only clubs’ stadiums that the new provision will apply to, not necessarily their other property.
In theory, that means Villa – or any other club for that matter – could still use this method for other assets they hold if the margins are tight when it comes to PSR.
With Villa subject to both UEFA and the Premier League’s PSR systems this season, they need to ensure their losses over the last three years fall under the £105m threshold and that their spending on wages, transfers and agent fees is 80 per cent or less.
Villa only narrowly avoided a breach for the three-year period up until 30th June this year, in part thanks to the sale of academy graduate to Tim Iroegbunam to Everton before the cut-off.
This season, it could be an even closer call as the £100m sale of Jack Grealish – another academy product, whose sales are most effective in terms of PSR – is no longer part of the three-year monitoring period.