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Aston Villa deal in place to sell Aaron Ramsey for £14m as Fabrizio Romano shares new update
Aston Villa could be using the Aaron Ramsey transfer to Burnley to keep their Financial Fair Play (FFP) balance in check.
Sky Sports Italy journalist Fabrizio Romano reported on 11 August that the midfielder is close to joining the recently–promoted club in a deal worth £14million plus add-ons.
He said the Villans will include a buy-back clause in the deal for the 20-year-old, allowing them first refusal on signing him if he proves himself in the Premier League with the Clarets.
Ramsey joined the Villa academy at Under-9 level alongside his brother Jacob and was handed his first professional contract at Villa Park in 2021.
His chances in the first team have been extremely limited, though, after he has only made one senior appearance in a 6-0 victory over Barrow in the Carabao Cup in August 2021.
But the Birmingham-born midfielder has always been highly thought of at Villa and has impressed while out on loan at Cheltenham Town, Norwich City and Middlesbrough.
His latest loan spell at Boro saw him help the Teesiders reach the Championship playoffs last season, having scored five goals and laying on one assist in his 11 appearances.
That form might have led him to believe his chances of earning some more minutes in the Villa first team would be improved this season, but that doesn’t look to be the case.
After securing the big-money signings of Pau Torres and Moussa Diaby as well as the free transfer of Youri Tielemans, who is likely to be on high wages, the books probably need to be balanced at Villa Park.
Cameron Archer, another academy graduate, has also been linked with a permanent move away from the club this summer as Sheffield United are eyeing a deal for him [YorkshireLive].
The Athletic reported on 11 August that FFP has come into the Villans’ thinking with regard to the potential sales of Ramsey and Archer by “selling young talents other clubs might ordinarily prefer to loan out”.
Moving those players on will help ease the FFP burden placed on the club, while also securing high transfers for talents that could go on to improve elsewhere, with the hierarchy comfortable in the knowledge that they can sign them back with the buy-back clauses in place.
Speaking about Ramsey’s potential transfer, Villa boss Unai Emery said on 10 August: “Young players are very important for us and we have to make a plan for them. In the past, present and the future and we don’t want to stop their career.
“When we are thinking they are not going to have a lot of chances to play, to keep confident and keep minutes, another plan is to let them go and play in other teams. Sometimes on loan, sometimes sell. But always trying to keep the possibility of getting them again for us in the near future.
“That is the idea we have with different players. Now, Aaron is so close to leaving and the idea is to have the possibility to recover him if he progresses over the next year or more, deserving to play and come here.”
While Villa may wish to nurture the players themselves in one sense, it does take out the risk of exceeding their limits when attempting to bring in high-quality stars to improve the first team in the here and now.
It’s smart thinking by the club and could be something other sides look to emulate as competition in the Premier League continues to get tougher.
In other Aston Villa news, an offer has been submitted for an international midfielder.