Aston Villa: ‘Horrible’ profit and sustainability situation emerges amid £60m Jacob Ramsey transfer to Newcastle United
We’re delighted to welcome Sky Sports journalist Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Dan Bardell has revealed that there is genuine interest from Newcastle United in Jacob Ramsey after a “horrible” Aston Villa profit and sustainability situation has emerged.
The Athletic journalist David Ornstein reported on Monday (29 January) that Newcastle United have made an approach to sign the 22-year-old this month.
He added that both Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich also hold an interest in the English midfielder, but it will take a fee upwards of £50million to secure his services.
Bardell doesn’t believe Ramsey will leave Villa Park in January, but he added that the Magpies are likely to retain an interest in the Villans academy product and that selling him could be the simplest way to resolve and profit and sustainability issues the club may have.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “He won’t leave in January. I was told that if Almiron had left Newcastle, they would have room to make a bid. There is genuine interest from Newcastle in Jacob Ramsey.
“Even if it doesn’t happen now and Newcastle don’t make a bid even in the next 12 months, he’ll be someone that they carry an interest in.
“It’s just a horrible trend at the moment because this profit and sustainability stuff, it skews things so that you are rewarded for selling homegrown players.
“Ramsey is, obviously, pretty much the only homegrown player with any stature that’s left at Villa. If they want to comply with these regulations or believe they’re close to crossing the line with these regulations, then that’s the simplest sale in terms of making sure things are okay in that regard.
“On the face of it, Villa have got to where they have this season without Ramsey. But then the other side of that is that he was brilliant last season and where would they be had Ramsey been fit all season?
“I think the most disappointing thing is that, even when he has played and tried to get up to match speed, he’s broken down again. I do wonder where Villa would be had Ramsey not picked up that injury he did in the summer.
“I’d be really reluctant to sell him for the prices that have been mooted, £50million to £60million, because I believe he’s still got room to develop and a fully firing Ramsey is worth more than that.”
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