FFP

[AV82EC]

Hmm - this sounds a bit of an issue -

"Villa will also face a restriction on the registration of new players on their squad list for the Champions League next season."

It’s the same issue as it was this year. We’ll need a net positive of the squad salaries (I think). Martinez and Rogers will go, so there’ll be a bit of room. But ultimately means we’ll likely have to buy worse players or take a few gambles.

So last season it ended up being:

Martinez
Bizot
Cash
Lindelof
Konsa
Mings
Digne
Torres
Garcia
Maatsen
McGinn
Tielemans
Sancho
Luiz
Onana
Elliott
Buendia
Watkins
Rogers
Bailey
Abraham

Room for manoeuvre?

Sancho, Elliott and Luiz straight off that list. Though I assume Guessand comes back in if we don’t sell.

[Beard82]

How would it work - someone like elliot or bailey - how much would removing them add?

[Percy McCarthy]

^^ True. And if transfer balance is still a thing (which I’m pretty sure it was last season), the inclusion of Kamara & Barkley puts two free transfers in.

Replying to Ads.

[Percy McCarthy]

Hmm - this sounds a bit of an issue -

"Villa will also face a restriction on the registration of new players on their squad list for the Champions League next season."

It’s the same issue as it was this year. We’ll need a net positive of the squad salaries (I think). Martinez and Rogers will go, so there’ll be a bit of room. But ultimately means we’ll likely have to buy worse players or take a few gambles.

So last season it ended up being:

Martinez
Bizot
Cash
Lindelof
Konsa
Mings
Digne
Torres
Garcia
Maatsen
McGinn
Tielemans
Sancho
Luiz
Onana
Elliott
Buendia
Watkins
Rogers
Bailey
Abraham

Room for manoeuvre?

Sancho, Elliott and Luiz straight off that list. Though I assume Guessand comes back in if we don’t sell.

We could always decide against putting him in.

[Olneythelonely]

We wouldn’t be “immediately deciding to sell our two best players.” One has been trying to leave for at least a year (and we were willing to sell) and the other would give us the transfer fee needed to refresh the squad.

Selling players we would necessarily want to isn’t something new, we’ve had to do it a few times, it’s one of the ways we’re managing our way around this.

I’d love to get £120m for Guessand, Maatsen and a couple of others. Fair play if we do.

[AV82EC]

Good point, particularly as you mentioned above Kamara and Barkley maybe being put in.

[PaulWinch again]

Sorry I’m obviously being dim, if the restriction is the same as it was is it not we have to have a net positive spend in order to register any new players into the squad? I.e. that would include existing players who aren’t registered.

[Ads]

If we needed to sell, we'd have already sold Rogers. Our financial position is much better this summer than it was last. We cannot let rip with the financial power our 3 owners have because...well, because...With a larger front of shirt sponsor, CL again, bigger ground in 2027, that improvement continues.

I cannot see a reason not to deal with Witton sooner rather than later. I've seen "10 years" bandied about, but that makes absolutely no strategic sense. We need bigger, as quick as possible. Then and maybe then, we can compete for shite players at £80m a pop to improve finishing 17th repeatedly.

[paul_e]

We wouldn’t be “immediately deciding to sell our two best players.” One has been trying to leave for at least a year (and we were willing to sell) and the other would give us the transfer fee needed to refresh the squad.

Selling players we would necessarily want to isn’t something new, we’ve had to do it a few times, it’s one of the ways we’re managing our way around this.

I’d love to get £120m for Guessand, Maatsen and a couple of others. Fair play if we do.

To repeat myself we can bring in (including £40m-ish already in for Malen and Barrenechea) something around £90m without selling anyone we would consider first team players (so Guessand, Ned, Garcia, Iling-Junior, Dobbin, Barry, Swinkels and a few other youngsters who aren't going to push on). Add in the savings on wages for all of that lot and what we free up on Elliott, Sancho and Luiz and we have plenty of room to make the sort of signings we seem to be looking at (Emerson Royal for example). This would be yet another reason why we're looking more at the older end for first team players because they tend to be lower fees so if we can get them for reasonable wages it makes sense.

It then does mean we need to consider giving some of the youngsters more gametime but as I've said elsewhere, I think that's a good idea anyway because we have some serious potential in there.

[PeterWithesShin]

We can't do anything with Witton Lane until at least 2029.

[paul_e]

If we needed to sell, we'd have already sold Rogers. Our financial position is much better this summer than it was last. We cannot let rip with the financial power our 3 owners have because...well, because...With a larger front of shirt sponsor, CL again, bigger ground in 2027, that improvement continues.

I cannot see a reason not to deal with Witton sooner rather than later. I've seen "10 years" bandied about, but that makes absolutely no strategic sense. We need bigger, as quick as possible. Then and maybe then, we can compete for shite players at £80m a pop to improve finishing 17th repeatedly.

I agree on Witton Lane, I reckon they're already making plans and that things will push on as soon as possible after the Euros.

[Percy McCarthy]

We wouldn’t be “immediately deciding to sell our two best players.” One has been trying to leave for at least a year (and we were willing to sell) and the other would give us the transfer fee needed to refresh the squad.

Selling players we would necessarily want to isn’t something new, we’ve had to do it a few times, it’s one of the ways we’re managing our way around this.

I’d love to get £120m for Guessand, Maatsen and a couple of others. Fair play if we do.

To repeat myself we can bring in (including £40m-ish already in for Malen and Barrenechea) something around £90m without selling anyone we would consider first team players (so Guessand, Ned, Garcia, Iling-Junior, Dobbin, Barry, Swinkels and a few other youngsters who aren't going to push on). Add in the savings on wages for all of that lot and what we free up on Elliott, Sancho and Luiz and we have plenty of room to make the sort of signings we seem to be looking at (Emerson Royal for example). This would be yet another reason why we're looking more at the older end for first team players because they tend to be lower fees so if we can get them for reasonable wages it makes sense.

It then does mean we need to consider giving some of the youngsters more gametime but as I've said elsewhere, I think that's a good idea anyway because we have some serious potential in there.

Money from Malen, Barrenechea and Guessand certainly helps the overall financial situation but I don’t think it impacts on these rules as they weren’t in the UEFA a-list squad.

[paul_e]

We wouldn’t be “immediately deciding to sell our two best players.” One has been trying to leave for at least a year (and we were willing to sell) and the other would give us the transfer fee needed to refresh the squad.

Selling players we would necessarily want to isn’t something new, we’ve had to do it a few times, it’s one of the ways we’re managing our way around this.

I’d love to get £120m for Guessand, Maatsen and a couple of others. Fair play if we do.

To repeat myself we can bring in (including £40m-ish already in for Malen and Barrenechea) something around £90m without selling anyone we would consider first team players (so Guessand, Ned, Garcia, Iling-Junior, Dobbin, Barry, Swinkels and a few other youngsters who aren't going to push on). Add in the savings on wages for all of that lot and what we free up on Elliott, Sancho and Luiz and we have plenty of room to make the sort of signings we seem to be looking at (Emerson Royal for example). This would be yet another reason why we're looking more at the older end for first team players because they tend to be lower fees so if we can get them for reasonable wages it makes sense.

It then does mean we need to consider giving some of the youngsters more gametime but as I've said elsewhere, I think that's a good idea anyway because we have some serious potential in there.

Money from Malen, Barrenechea and Guessand certainly helps the overall financial situation but I don’t think it impacts on these rules as they weren’t in the UEFA a-list squad.

It still impacts on the normal rules, just not the judgement of needing to record a profit on trading in and out of the squad. It's far from ideal and I'd really hoped we wouldn't have such a ridiculous restriction again this summer but it does reinforce the thinking that this will be a summer of fairly minimal changes, which is what I wanted anyway. If Garcia and Bailey do leave we've got 5 squad places to fill and can easily use Kamara and Barkley for 2 of those so we'd just be swapping Garcia for Royal and bringing in a winger for Sancho's spot and probably looking at someone like Madjo or Alysson for the last spot. I'd be ok with that, especially if it means that some of the youngsters get some game time.

The big thing for me is that it means the winger we all want is more likely to be on loan than a permanent signing this summer, which is a little limiting.

[Dogtanian]

The other thing to keep in mind is that the UEFA caps are measured by calendar year, not by season.

So we are already half way through the current reporting period.