Aston Villa told to forget Premier League goals after recent transfer developments
Aston Villa are desperate to qualify for the Champions League again next season.
Unai Emery‘s side missed out on qualifying for a place in Europe’s elite competition on goal difference in a harsh blow at the end of last season.
The Villa Park outfit have struggled to balance the books this summer, eventually selling their Women’s team to a consortium led by V Sports.
While that starved off a penalty from the Premier League, UEFA fined Aston Villa a total of £9.5million as a result of their previous spending.
Aston Villa have agreed to sell Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle, and that should help.
Aston Villa News presents the exclusive opinion of iconic football commentator Ian Darke.
Aston Villa top-five finish looks unlikely after Ramsey news
Villa are set to sell Ramsey, with a £39million deal agreed with Newcastle; however, their business will still be heavily restricted by UEFA’s squad cost rules.
Darke believes that Villa’s chances of finishing in the top five and qualifying for Europe’s top competition again have taken a huge hit this summer, especially after the latest Ramsey update.
He thinks that they should target the Europa League, as winning that would get them back amongst the European elite.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, he said: “I would say they have got more chance of making an impact in the Europa League this season than they have in the Premier League.
“It looks like a lot of the teams have strengthened a lot, so making the top five is going to be probably even harder.
“I just wonder whether the Europa League is more realistic for them.”
Villa should be furious with the Premier League and UEFA
The fact that Villa cannot spend, without selling major stars, even after getting around £40m for one of their homegrown assets, is a shambles.
How are clubs supposed to compete for the biggest honours if they cannot spend while the big clubs spend whatever they like?
- Liverpool top the spending charts in the top-flight with over £250million on new players
- Chelsea have spent £240m
- Manchester United have spent £197m
- Newly-promoted Sunderland have spent £131m
- Meanwhile, Villa have spent just £31m
The whole system is not fit for purpose, and it is no surprise that Villa supporters are disillusioned with the current state of the game and its ridiculous financial regulations.
Villa have just been in the Champions League, with the revenues that it brings, and still cannot compete; something has got to give.
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