Aston Villa face the challenge of sustaining success in the Premier League and European football while being forced to sell players. This is the reality for the club as they strive to increase commercial viability and narrow the revenue gap with the 'big six'.
Financial Growth of the 'Big Six'
The financial growth of the 'big six' is not necessarily tied to on-pitch success. Tottenham, Manchester United, and Chelsea have all endured disappointing league finishes in recent years, yet their commercial strength remains high. Villa, meanwhile, have been the fourth-best team in England since Unai Emery took charge over three and a half years ago, but they cannot spend V Sports' cash without player sales to balance the books.
Weighted Financial Rules
The financial rules governing European football are weighted in favour of clubs that built commercial strength over the past 20 years. Chelsea and Manchester City faced few obstacles when pumping money into the transfer market in the 2000s, unlike Villa in the 2020s. Being a 'selling club' is often associated with smaller clubs, but Villa have consistently competed for Champions League football and silverware under Emery.
In reality, every club outside the 'big six' is now a selling club. Most teams beyond that bubble cannot match the transfer spending of the 'big six' without first selling players, sometimes to those very same clubs.
Recent Player Sales
Following Villa’s Champions League qualification in 2023/24, Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby were sold for a combined fee of around £100 million, while Jhon Durán departed in January 2025 for £67 million. Last summer, Villa retained the core of their squad for continuity, limiting spending power. Jacob Ramsey was the only headline sale before Donyell Malen joined Roma on loan with a conditional obligation to buy.
Malen completed his permanent move to Roma for around £23 million this summer. Alongside the sales of Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for £117 million (with Middlesbrough receiving a sell-on), Youri Tielemans for £35 million after his release clause was triggered, Lewis Dobbin for £9 million, and Enzo Barrenechea, Villa have banked around £180 million. Lucas Digne is expected to join Paris Saint-Germain for £8 million.
Monchi on Selling Players
In September 2024, Monchi explained to BirminghamLive the importance of player sales in funding squad improvements. "If we want to be in the top we need to sell, 100 per cent," Monchi admitted. "Because of our revenue - we cannot raise more revenue because of our stadium. We need to consider the profit as revenue."
"We need to consider in future that to sell a player is revenue. Because we cannot have more revenue. When Damian (Vidagany) worked in Valencia and I worked in Sevilla it was OK to increase the level by selling players. The most important thing in my opinion is not selling players - the most important thing is to buy good [players]."
"We were not afraid to sell players but we had to do it within a plan. In my opinion we need to sell players because City sell players, Arsenal sell players, Real Madrid and Barcelona sell players. We are not afraid to sell players - the most important thing is to have, one - a buyer, and two - buy a player to replace this one."
