Credit: talkSPORT

Cameron Smith

Thu 2 April 2026 14:00, UK Updated Thu 2 April 2026 14:17, UK

Aston Villa’s finances have been scrutinised by Simon Jordan.

Over the course of this week, clubs across the Premier League have revealed figures detailing their accounts for the year ending June 2025.

Villa have been under the spotlight for large periods of recent years, with the Villans often having to be creative in the transfer market to remain competitive.

It has worked in the sense that Unai Emery’s side remain among the sides chasing consistent European football, but the B6 outfit are still aiming to make the next step and challenge at the thick end of the division.

Now, Jordan has scrutinised one figure in particular, looking at Villa’s expenditure on agent fees.

Aston Villa agent fees compared with Premier League rivals Chelsea

Aston Villa and Chelsea are two clubs who have been looked at through a microscope in recent years, with the pair finding creative ways to balance the books.

Despite the West London giant’s high revenue – including some of the fee received from last summer’s Club World Cup – they recorded a Premier League record pre-tax loss of £264.2m

However, Jordan made the argument that as poor as Chelsea’s numbers look on paper, Villa’s have to be scrutinised as much, if not more.

“Chelsea have spent £65m on agents’ fees on transactions worth £600m in and out,” said Jordan on talkSPORT on Thursday.

“Go and look at Aston Villa, who’ve done £70m worth of transfers and £57m sales, and paid £38m in agents’ fees. That’s 25 per cent. While the numbers look horrible [for Chelsea], they’re not that enormous.”

Earlier this year, the Deloitte Money League recorded a total revenue of £392.99m for Villa after their 2024-25 campaign.

It means Villa simply need to reach the Champions League heading into next term, with this figure set to drop after a year in the Europa League.

Why Champions League football is imperative for Aston Villa

Villa were condemned to the Europa League on the final day of last season, which itself brought about certain financial implications.

Champions League qualification alone brings in around £16million at least, while performance-related bonuses saw their end tally hit an estimated £73.1m after reaching the quarter-finals.

For comparison, if Emery’s side were to win the Europa League this season, the estimated income would fall somewhere in the £30-40m group, emphasising just why qualification for Europe’s premier competition is so critical this term.

As mentioned, Villa have been under consistent pressure regarding their finances since their rise to European football.

Aston Villa were previously fined £9.5m for breaching wage regulations last summer, for exceeding the 80 per cent limit in comparison to the club’s revenue.

And while it potentially highlights a flawed system given the fact that the regulations differ so much between being in and out of Europe, the simple fact of the matter is that Emery’s side must reach the Champions League if they wish to continue competing over the coming years, particularly as the B6 outfit look to rebuild their side.