Aston Villa: Unai Emery to allow Jacob Ramsey to complete £50m+ Villa Park exit amid PSR fears
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery may have to stand aside and allow Jacob Ramsey to leave this summer amid financial fair play concerns, according to Alan Hutton.
Villa’s latest set of financial accounts has led to suggestions that Emery may be forced to sell some of his biggest stars this summer so that the Villans avoid breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules [iNews, 5 March].
While Ramsey has impressed for Unai Emery’s side so far this season reports suggest the midfielder could be sold this summer because as an academy product, his sale would represent 100 per cent profit for Villa [Football Insider, 22 March].
Although Hutton has admitted he would be keen to keep the 22-year-old at Villa Park ahead of next season, he thinks Emery will be unable to turn down an offer upwards of £50million, even if it means selling to a rival.
“It’s not ideal but you saw what happened to Jack Grealish,” Hutton told Villa News.
“£100million on the table, you need to leave, you’re away to Manchester City. As a fan you never want to see your homegrown players leave, you want to see them come into the first team and do really well but they have to be good enough.
“He’s [Ramsey] shown that and Jack showed that. If a team come in with £50 million-plus do you really want to stand in their way? It must be a difficult one as a fan.
“It’s all profit which obviously helps you, but selling him to a rival if he goes to a Newcastle or a Tottenham, effectively you’re weakening your side to make their side better to cover yourself financially.
“It’s a difficult one, it’s a really hard one to deal with and it just really depends on who you bring in but I want to see him stay.”
Will Aston Villa sell Jacob Ramey in the summer transfer window?
As Hutton suggested, no fan ever wants to see a young homegrown talent depart their boyhood club, but if it means dodging a potential points deduction in the coming years it may be a price that Villa simply have to pay.
Although Ramsey has impressed this season, most supporters would sooner lose the 22-year-old rather than either Douglas Luiz or Ollie Wakins and the opportunity to make pure profit on the sale may be too good to turn down.
Hopefully, Villa will find a way to balance the books and keep all their star men ahead of a potential Champions League campaign next season, but so much could change in the final weeks of the Premier League season.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton believes Emery will be furious with Leon Bailey for what he did whilst on international duty
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