(credit: Imago)

Jacob Raw

Thu 2 April 2026 20:00, UK

Aston Villa may have to resort to selling their youth stars as a way of avoiding the £4.3million football earnings UEFA loss limit that is now in place for them.

The Villans reached an agreed settlement with UEFA last year after the club were found to have lost more than £70m in football earnings across a three-year period, which exceeded the FER threshold.

As a result, the settlement now sees Villa have a UEFA football loss limit of £4.3m for the current 2025-26 season, which may be hard to avoid.

The difference between the Europa League and Champions League income is stark, and NSWE will not be pocketing what they hope for this season.

However, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens can still avoid this UEFA limit through their academy.

Aston Villa still have an opportunity to ease £4.3m limit concerns

As highlighted by local journalist Jacob Tanswell on X, given Villa’s high running costs and zero Champions League income, the limit will be hard to avoid.

However, one way the Villans have raised money over the years is through sales from their youth academy and Bodymoor Heath graduates.

Though the names in the table above are those that broke through the ranks and played many games for the Villans, there are more at Bodymoor Heath now that could be sold.

There are limits now because the winter window has passed, but Villa could sanction the sales of some of their youngsters to teams that play in foreign countries that are able to make transfers right now.

There’s even a chance that NSWE could have sales in place for youngsters to move academies before the window even opens, and try to show this to UEFA as evidence of fundraising within the 2025-26 season.

Villa have one of the most successful academies in the world for generating sales, and given the high reputation of Bodymoor Heath, clubs could be willing to take a gamble on a couple of young stars if they were made available.

Which youth players could NSWE sell?

George Hemmings has made four appearances for the Villans this season and grabbed an assist in a Man of the Match display for the U21s in their last game.

Villa will probably want to keep the midfielder, but the window is still open for loans to the National League, which could see NSWE save some wages until the end of the season.

The same goes for Sam Proctor, a teenage goalkeeper who has also been impressing at Bodymoor Heath this term, as clubs from abroad would no doubt be interested in signing him if given the chance.

Ultimately, nobody wants to see their club sell their best prospects to scrap together pennies, but that may be the reality of what NSWE have gotten themselves into here.