Aston Villa
Aston Villa were facing the very real threat of a big points deduction as Douglas Luiz’s move to Juventus hung in the balance while the hours ticked down on the ‘unofficial transfer deadline day ‘ on June 30. Forty-seven days prior, confirmation of Villa’s qualification for the Champions League came at the club’s End of Season Awards Dinner at Villa Park after top four rivals Tottenham lost at home to eventual champions Manchester City, but Monchi and Damian Vidagany couldn’t celebrate for long. Villa had to raise a significant amount of money through player sales before the end of June to remain compliant with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which permits clubs to lose no more than more than £105m over a three-year period.
Monchi and Damian Vidagany said “When everybody was cheering for the Champions League, Monchi and I were in the party thinking how not to spoil this beautiful year by having a points deduction. This is something that everyone was not looking at. But there was a bomb with the countdown, and we were there to cut the cable. READ | Emi Buendia showed a new quality for Aston Villa after 465-day wait READ | Amadou Onana explains difference between Aston Villa and Everton as Arsenal point made From May 20th until June 30th, one month and 10 days, the period that normally is the holiday period for everyone in football, but for us, a very difficult moment, because we had to do some deals with profit. This is the worst market in history because we were so pressured by time, by the weakness you are showing, and because there are many actors in the deals. If one of the domino pieces jumps out of the line, you won’t complete it. That’s why it was very difficult.”
Villa were locked in negotiations with Juventus over selling Luiz for weeks as the Italian giants wanted to also include players in the deal. Eventually, the two clubs agreed on the sale of Luiz for £42m, plus Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea, who joined Villa in a separate deal worth £18.75m. ”
Monchi and Damian Vidagany said “It was not only one agent, one player, but three agents, three players, two clubs – it’s like an exponential problem. Monchi and I travelled to Italy in the last week of May. We got a pre-agreement. The final signing happened on June 30. It was a rollercoaster. But we had a problem. Douglas at this time was in the USA with Brazil for the Copa America. You need to do the medical, sign the contract … crazy. There was one sleepless night. They [Brazil] played in Vegas then after the game they were supposed to go to a hotel to sign the contract. But the national team of Brazil stopped them going to Vegas as they were scared about partying. From the moment we shook hands with Cristiano Giuntoli from Juventus until the final signing, it was one month. We were saying ‘OK, we have solved it, maybe’… we have a parachute but we don’t know if it’s going to work.”
In Monchi’s first summer window with the club in 2023, he raised funds by selling academy graduates rather than losing a key first-team player. It was a decision which paid off for Villa after they recorded their best top-flight league finish for 28 years. Before the summer window opened this year, Villa had already identified which players were not for sale after deliberating with manager Unai Emery. One of the ‘untouchables’ was homegrown talent Jacob Ramsey.
Monchi and Damian Vidagany said “If we sold Ramsey, it would be solved. And we could [have] because we had offers. Another solution was to put Ollie Watkins on the market. It’s an easy solution as he’s a top striker. Or to sell the best goalkeeper in the world Emi Martinez because we also had offers for him. It’s important to manage the solution of PSR but not take out one of Unai’s most important players for the next season. So that’s the challenge because our responsibility was not only to solve the problem but to build the best team possible for next season. To sell Konsa, to sell Bailey … The priority was to solve PSR but we should not compromise the success of the next season. In this moment, there were a few clubs in a weak position, because everybody knows in the Premier League who had this problem with PSR. I have to say that, at the same time, some clubs who didn’t have the problem tried to take advantage of the situation. This is important because this is a jungle, and everyone looks for his interest. This is normal. We had a problem we had to solve and we tried to solve. In this period, we do some deals. But the key deal that I think it was Douglas Luiz. A great player and very important for us, very important for the fans. It’s not about just having to sell the players that are providing you profit. But at the same time – and this is the most challenging thing – selling the players that Unai can consider that are not crucial for the team. If we sold whatever it took – let’s say for instance Ramsey – at that moment some teams approached us offering for him because they knew our weakness. But Ramsey is a player that Unai wants, all Villa staff we love to have him here and we were against this solution.”
In Barrenechea and Iling-Junior, Villa have two players who have room for growth out on loan or under Emery in first-team in the years to come. Barrenechea, who turned 23 back in May, has only played one full season in senior football, on loan at Frosinone in the Serie A last term. He will spend this campaign at Valencia, who are hoping to qualify for European football this season. Iling-Junior, meanwhile, will play Champions League football at Bologna after they finished fifth in the Italian top-flight last season Villa were presented with other players to take on board instead of Barrenechea and Iling-Junior, but those alternatives didn’t fit the club’s recruitment strategy.
Monchi and Damian Vidagany said “We can find a solution but at the same time we can build another problem. If you bring a player with a high salary, the next season we have a problem. We work in this market … we try to have young players with not big salaries. It’s a boomerang, If you solve today for June 30, then on July 1 you have a bigger hole, you have a bigger problem. Samuel and Enzo were young players we trust and we think are sustainable for Aston Villa. Maybe we knew they wouldn’t be ready to play for us immediately but both are young, talented, with sustainable salaries and in the next year they’re going to be good assets for Aston Villa.”
Luiz followed Tim Iroegbunam and Omari Kellyman out the door before the end of June. Everton signed Iroegbunam in a deal worth up to £13m, while Lewis Dobbin joined Villa for £9m. As Villa finalised the £37.5m capture of exciting left-back Ian Maatsen, teenager Kellyman headed for Stamford Bridge for £19m.
Monchi and Damian Vidagany said “Because of PSR, it makes it more attractive for the club to sell and to buy academy players. Why? They are pure profit for the sales and cheap salaries for the buys. PSR was created to protect the stability and sustainability of the league. But it’s not perfect. It was a big failure. And that’s pushing the clubs to do deals, sometimes not natural. For me, always, to sell an academy player you raise in whom you have invested a lot of human capital, a lot of years, to sell this guy is not natural.”
Villa have submitted their squad for the Champions League to UEFA, but will not name 25 players as they only have two senior ‘club-trained’ stars in Emery’s squad. It means that Villa will have two fewer players from List A to call on in the Champions League this season.
Monchi and Damian Vidagany said “If you play in Europe, you can have a problem. You can have four club-trained players in your squad. An example, this season, we can have only 23 players because we only have two Jacob and Jaden. If Omari was here we could have 24.”
In July, Moussa Diaby was sold to Al-Ittihad for £50.5m to help Villa also comply with UEFA’s squad cost ratio rules (SCR) and fund part of Villa’s record breaking deal for Amadou Onana.
Monchi and Damian Vidagany said “PSR of the Premier League and SCR (squad cost ratio) from UEFA are not matching. They are two different parcels in two different hands. SCR of UEFA forces you to sell expensive players. For instance, to decrease our ratio of cost, we have a great deal that was Diaby. Even though he cost a lot, the fact we sold him for big money – means we don’t have a big profit – the gaps aren’t very big but the cost was high on the squad and we wanted to reduce the ratio. So we have to sell expensive players. If you want to stick to PSR you have to sell cheaper players and academy players. It’s almost impossible to match both. The Premier League is not aligned to the rules of UEFA. It’s almost impossible. Then, UEFA is concerned that after June 30, last season we had to make sure the ratio is 90 per cent of our squad is revenues. This year, it’s 80 per cent. You have to make 10 per cent less when you have to extend the players with higher salaries. Don’t forget, it’s not about signing players, it’s about extending the contracts of Watkins, McGinn, Konsa, Mings, Bailey, Emi. We extend the contracts of the most important players with higher salaries. Why? Because they are performing well. This increases the cost. In our case, this is the most difficult thing, we have Buendia, Mings, Kamara and Jacob – four very expensive players – and we didn’t have the asset. We had to replace them with Clement Lenglet and Nicolo Zaniolo. When you have an ACL, UEFA and the Premier League say: ‘No, this is your problem’.”
Monchi and Vidagany worked in the summer window with four key objectives in mind. Each element is crucial for Villa to remain competitive at the top of the Premier League and in Europe.
Monchi and Damian Vidagany Said “First, it was to find a solution for the PSR, that’s the most important,. Second, to have a younger squad. If you watched the game against West Ham, we finished the game with eight players under 23. Three to have a deeper squad. Why? Because we need to play more competitions. And the fourth is to be aligned with what Unai wants. We have to make sure that all this food we are cooking is liked by Unai. He has to be happy at the end of it. He was, of course, aware of all the transfer situations we had. We spoke every four or five hours every day during his holiday. He agreed. In the end, we solved the PSR with less conditions to start after June 30 with a squad that we want. Ross Barkley was agreed before the end of June. Like Unai said with Monchi over Morgan Rogers: ‘I like this guy,’ so we decided to sign him. He was a market opportunity. But he was a player who Unai and Monchi identified for us as a good player in a strong position.”
