Summer transfer window 2025

Yeah they had higher wages than both those last year but lower than the 5 I mentioned so I think the wage bill being called Massive, not by you, is inaccurate when it is only about 75% of the lowest of the 5 paying more.

Villa are struggling to spend money and meet the UEFA rules on squad cost ratio as well as on 3 year losses rule and that is their problem in this transfer window.

Their squad cost is not a problem in itself as they are able to pay the wages.

Do you even realise that Brentford fans think you’re buying ‘the rat’ ?

Some serious cash getting thrown around by the epl teams this window.

I don't and never do think any player is loyal, especially at Newcastle which is a dump in the north east…. all roads lead as close to London as it can get, and we are the furthest away.

but how Isak went about it, I haven't seen anything like it, strange behaviour from him and his team

Villa were fined last year for having a wage ratio between 80 and 90% so I think that 91% figure is inaccurate.

Their actual wage bill is considerably smaller than 5 clubs so not massive in the Premier League.

Like you say it is UEFA rules that are stopping them spending in the transfer window.

Villa have a high Ratio of income vs wages spent- that's the issue. From the Deloitte report for the 2023/24 season- Villa had a ratio of 93%!! which is insane.

For context spurs had the joint lowest with Luton at 43%- which is telling in its own way.

They don't have the highest wage bill, Man city have the highest followed by Man utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, Villa are then 6th with spurs 7th

I think saying a club’s wage bill, not their squad cost ratio, is massive when it is not top 5 in the league is misleading.

Manchester City have a massive wage bill compared to Villa, almost double.

Villa have had a squad cost ratio to turnover that is higher than allowed under UEFA rules and that is stopping them spending in this transfer window, no argument there.

Has the spend on wages over the last few years hampered them as a club? I’d say probably not.

Worth remembering with Villa that it is a club where finances really did go wrong, they couldn’t pay their tax bill until the protection came, from the current owners. Club was bought, in the Championship, for the price of Evann Guessand, club revenue and investment has brought them to where they are now.

The financial rules mean that clubs have to get things right off of the pitch in order to match their ambition for the team. The club the owners need to increase the match day revenue and the best way to do that is to increase the stadium capacity of Villa Park. Earlier this year there was an announcement of plans to increase the capacity of the North Stand by 7,000 and bring the capacity of Villa Park up to 50,000 by 2027.

That will still leave them trailing behind Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham, Newcastle, Everton and West Ham in terms of potential match day revenue. Given the size of the Aston Villa supporter base they could easily fill a 60,000 stadium for every game.

The Liverpool owners have been massive supporters of PSR and have made the club competitive while following the rules. The club was on the brink of administration when FSG took ownership in 2010, they immediately set about growing the commercial side of the club and it wasn't until the appointment of Klopp in 2015 that they began to be competitive in a sustainable way on the pitch. That brought more sponsorship money into the club to reinvest in the team.

Planning issues delayed the expansion of Anfield for years. In 2016 the capacity was increased from 45,000 to 54,000. Objections delayed the planned further expansion to 58,000 and permission for those plans expired in 2019. In 2021, the redevelopment of the Anfield Road End began and the completion was delayed until 2024 due to the original contractor going into administration. It took almost 15 years to increase the capacity of Anfield by roughly 16,500 seats.

If the Aston Villa owners want to develop the club it will take time to do so, there isn't a quick fix. The alternative is to follow the Chelsea route, skirt the limits of the rules and accept whatever punishment comes as a result.

I think there’ll always be a finance imbalance to an extent and there’s no real way around it. There isn’t a hope of clubs agreeing to things like spending or wage caps because relegation exists. None of them are would vote for a situation that increases the risk of relegation from the league.

You also can’t go completely the other way either as that would make a mockery of the competition. Nation states would make the imbalance more than they already have, and teams would go bust trying to catch up.

FSR is the compromise and it’s probably the best that could be hoped for. Teams spending within their means keeps things kind of even - or at least even between groups of teams. It also protects owners from going mad trying to break into the CL and loading the club with debt.