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NSWE splash £252m in ‘landmark’ outlay, Aston Villa welcome VIPs to Villa Park
Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris have made it their mission to break Aston Villa into the exclusive club that is the Premier League’s financial elite.
Villa have mixed it with the best of them in the Premier League and Europe for two seasons now, only narrowly missing out on Champions League semi-final place to Paris Saint-Germain this week.
They are still very much in the hunt to return to the Champions League next season too, with just one point separating Unai Emery’s side and Manchester City in 5th place.
When Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris bought Villa in 2018, the club was in the Championship and had experienced financial difficulties when previous owner Tony Xia’s funding dried up.
Now, the Midlands club can stake a claim to be one of the most ambitious in the world, going head-to-head with fellow private equity and sovereign wealth-backed rivals to break into the elite.
As if to signpost their intentions to disrupt the Premier League, minority shareholder Atairos – a London-based asset management firm – has steadily increased its stake in Villa in recent years.
Atairos are the closest thing the Premier League has to a closed-loop system given that the groups major backer is Comcast, who own Sky Sports and therefore fund all 20 clubs in the division.
Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) are, of course, the biggest barrier to sustained success.
Villa have already breached UEFA’s set of control rules, though that will likely lead to a financial penalty only as opposed to a sporting sanction.
But what about next season, with the Premier League set to maintain the existing system of PSR? TBR Football spoke exclusively to University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire for his view.
- READ MORE: Aston Villa now leading Tottenham in race to sign one of Chelsea’s ‘best players’ this summer
Aston Villa break up Big Six wage hegemony – is it sustainable?
This season’s Champions League campaign has been the most lucrative of all time thanks to the new, expanded competition format.
Villa have probably banked in the region of £80m for reaching the quarter-finals, which in their PSR situation could be transformative revenue.
Maguire, however, believes that another season in the European big time will be necessary for Villa to have a shot at sustained success.
“In the Champions League, one year is for the fans, two or three years are for the balance sheet,” said the Price of Football author and podcast host.
“Villa fans have had a fantastic experience this years and should take huge pride in the way the club has conducted itself both on and off the pitch, with perhaps the exception of ticket prices.
“They have generated sufficient money this season to very much put themselves in the best of the rest as far as the Big Six are concerned.
Villa have spent heavily to get themselves in this position, especially in the wage budget, which was £252m last season. For the current season, expect that figure to rise significantly.
Significantly, that was the first time in the era of the so-called Big Six that any club has outspent either of the Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs.
“Their wage bill last season was slightly higher than Spurs,” observes Maguire, “which is a landmark in and of itself, but Villa have some way to go to be competitive with the other five members of the Big Six.
“If this was a 10,000-metre race, Spurs would have dropped off the leading pack slightly and Villa and Newcastle have formed a secondary group.”
Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris have £27m PSR cheat code up their sleeves
Villa can only defy gravity as far as PSR is concerned for so long – or can they?
The Premier League has failed to close the loophole that has allowed Chelsea to sell assets such as two hotels at Stamford Bridge to themselves to book an instant PSR profit.
In theory, there is now no reason Villa can’t do the same.
Their accounts show £28m of tangible assets on the books – that’s things like property, plant and equipment. If the margins are tight, that’s a £28m cheat code.
What’s more, reports in recent weeks have suggested that Villa could also look to sell their women’s team via a similar route, again following Chelsea’s lead.
However, TBR Football understands that reports of £100m valuation are well, well wide of the mark.
- READ MORE: Crystal Palace now keen to hold talks with £40m player but Aston Villa already have deal agreed
Aston Villa shell out to welcome VIPs to Villa Park
One that might have slipped under the radar for fans this week – Villa have signed a commercial deal with Legends, a company dedicated to providing in-stadium hospitality services.
Villa are pressing ahead with plans to expand Villa Park to a capacity of 50,000. More recently, they have redeveloped 17 hospitality lounges too.
This is an area that clubs are increasingly focusing. Some are making as much from ‘premium’ seating as they are from the rest of the stadium combined.
And while fans may have justifiable anxieties around something of the club’s identity being lost, more money per seat can only be a positive for PSR.
Last season, Villa earned £28M through the turnstiles.