Aston Villa could have had their financial situation aided by Unai Emery’s former club Sevilla during the 2023 transfer window.
Unai Emery and Monchi have a job on their hands at Aston Villa as the duo aim to alleviate the club’s PSR concerns ahead of June 30th.
Douglas Luiz is in the process of leaving Villa to join Juventus to help the financial situation, with other exits expected this summer.
While there is a scramble for many clubs to get their finances in order by the end of the month, Villa could have actually aided one area of their books last summer.
How Sevilla could have helped Aston Villa alleviate PSR concerns in 2023
One of the most alarming issues at Villa is the wage bill, as was highlighted earlier this year.
As reported in February, 70% of the Midlands club’s revenue is spent on wages, which makes for the highest reading in Europe.
It is therefore no surprise that Monchi and Emery are hoping to cut some top earners loose this summer, with Lucas Digne’s future speculated as a result.
Interestingly, when reporting that the Frenchman could be sold this summer, The Athletic added that Villa were prepared to offload the left-back last year.
Sevilla defender Marcos Acuna was in line to move to Villa Park to enable Digne to be sold last summer, with interest from Saudi Arabia and France listed.
While The Athletic detailed that Digne ‘did not want to leave’, offloading the defender would have significantly lowered the wage bill and subsequently, eased a fragment of the looming PSR concerns.
Lucas Digne is a high-earner at Aston Villa
Reports of Digne’s future being in doubt do not come as a surprise, considering that the former France international was set to leave the club last year.
Instead, the 30-year-old became an integral part of Emery’s squad, much to do with the injury-tainted season of Alex Moreno, who is also speculated to have an uncertain future.
Picking up a weekly wage of £120k-a-week at Villa Park, offloading Digne would see Monchi and Emery relieved of one of the club’s top earners.
- READ MORE: Aston Villa player wages 2023/24, ranked
Considering the scramble that Villa are currently facing due to PSR, acquiring Acuna from Sevilla in 2023 to offload the Frenchman could have saved a lot of financial worry.
The deal between Acuna and Villa was not able to be honoured at the time due to a ‘personal dispute’ between their club president Jose Castro and Monchi, as per Mundo Deportivo.
Things worked out for the best when reflecting on what Digne offered to Villa over the 2023/24 campaign although, the staggering wage costs could have been lowered.
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