Kieran Maguire explains NSWE’s Aston Villa Women sale as documents officially lodged
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has shed light on Aston Villa’s decision to sell their women’s team to V Sports, the holding company that owns the club.
Last June, news emerged that Villa were nearing the sale of the women’s team to avoid breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.
The Telegraph reported that billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens‘ pricing of the women’s side could be sealed by selling a stake to investors who held talks about buying 10 per cent for around £5.5million.
That would then allow the Villa Park outfit to sell the remaining 90 per cent to V Sports, which was previously founded as NWSE before being rebranded in 2021, potentially generating around £55m.
On Tuesday, Price of Football podcaster Maguire took to X to confirm the ownership changes to Villa’s women’s team have been officially lodged.
To find out what this means for Villa, Aston Villa News had an exclusive chat with the football finance guru.
Aston Villa beat deadline to secure women’s team sale
From the 2026-27 season, Premier League teams will be banned from selling assets such as hotels and women’s teams to themselves to circumvent financial rules.
At a meeting last November, English top-flight clubs agreed that Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) would replace PSR next term.
This means overall squad costs, including wages, transfer sums and agents’ fees, will have to be limited to 85 per cent of a club’s revenue – but teams in Europe have to adhere to UEFA’s 70 per cent rule.
Last July, Everton sold their women’s team to parent company, Roundhouse Capital, and the year prior, Chelsea sold two hotels to a sister company to keep them compliant with PSR.
Following this development, Maguire exclusively told Aston Villa News: “Under the Premier League rules but not UEFA rules, if the deal had gone through and we got effectively new owners in the sense that it’s now NSWE as opposed to Aston Villa Football Club, Aston Villa Football Club can book a profit on the deal.
“By having two parties involved, it helps Aston Villa. Let’s say that the third party has agreed to pay £6m for 10 per cent of the club, that means that Villa can value the whole club at £60m and they can say, ‘It’s not just an internal transaction, look we’ve got these other people involved buying the club as well’.
“Because the one thing that the Premier League might query is the value at which some of the women’s teams are being sold. It is being outlawed, so it’s a case of getting the deal over the line in time.
“Chelsea have done it, Everton have done it, but I’m not certain whether other clubs have managed to get that benefit. So I think it’s going to be short-term as far as these, we refer to them as related charity transactions.”
Why Aston Villa need all the financial help they can get
This news comes off the back of Villa’s 4-1 drubbing at the hands of fellow Champions League hopefuls Chelsea on Wednesday night.
The Villans took the lead through Douglas Luiz but fell to a heavy defeat after four unanswered goals from Liam Rosenior’s men.
The result could have been different if Ollie Watkins’ goal to make it 2-1 to Villa wasn’t ruled out by VAR at Villa Park.
In the end, Villa missed the chance to go nine points clear of fifth-placed Chelsea but now that gap is down to three.
Unai Emery’s side were grateful to Newcastle United as their win over Manchester United kept them level on points with the Red Devils.
But one point from their last three league games, which includes a defeat to basement side Wolves and a draw to lowly Leeds United, does not make for good reading.
If Villa missed out on a Champions League spot next season, that would be a huge blow to their finances – regardless of the financial boost this women’s team sale provides.
For more stories on Aston Villa’s financial situation, visit Football Insider for extra updates.