Credit: Hasan Karim

Max Wilkins

Thu 3 July 2025 16:00, UK

Aston Villa owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens appear to have ruffled some feathers in the footballing world.

The Villa bosses haven’t been concerned with making their presence known as opposition to the Premier League and their financial rules.

This had seen frustrating rumours loom over Villa Park throughout June as reports suggested that big-name sales were going to be necessary.

In the end, the need for this was negated by a £55million sale, something which is unlikely to have gone down well with other club owners.

NSWE leave owners fuming after Aston Villa Women’s sale

After missing out on Champions League football after defeat against Manchester United on the final day, monetary questions were going to be asked.

This all culminated with the reported sale of the Women’s team in B6, which looks set to represent £55m worth of additional income.

As a result, any PSR concerns look set to be avoided for another season after already agreeing to some sizable exits like Jhon Duran and Jaden Philogene in January.

With that being said, it appears that other owners are going to be left raging with Sawiris and Edens for following in Chelsea’s footsteps.

This comes as Kieran Maguire has revealed, via The Price of Football podcast (3 July), that the Ladies side has no assets, despite the high sale figure, something which is bound to go down badly elsewhere.

He said: “V Sports, which is the company owned by Edens and Sawiris, has agreed to buy the women’s team.

“If you look into the accounts of the women’s team, it has no property assets. It doesn’t own the stadium, it doesn’t appear to have any long-term assets, it doesn’t even own computers or lawn mowers for the ground.

“The only asset it does have is cash, and the thing about cash is, I’m pretty certain that £10 is never worth more than £10. It’s got assets of roughly £500k, and it’s also losing money, about £7k a week. It’s now been sold for a fee of around £55m.

“In that case, if I were Jason Whittingham [Morecambe owner] or Dejphon Chansiri, I would say, ‘Hold on, my club must be worth considerably more than I’m being offered.'”

Sheffield Wednesday could use Aston Villa as example

As things stand, the Owls are one of the worst-run clubs in the EFL as wages have gone unpaid over the last two months.

This could see their owner, Chansiri, look to push through a sale, but he could now look at Villa Women’s and their alleged £55m value and demand more for Wednesday.

This could set a negative precedent in the world of football, but that ultimately has to be down to the Premier League rather than Aston Villa.

The Villans and Chelsea have done nothing more than play by the rules to navigate through the complicated world of football finance.

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