Aston Villa could be about to sell a player valued at £18m for a whopping £42m, the latest analysis shows.
The 2023-24 campaign was the best in Villa’s recent history, with Unai Emery’s side qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 1983.
But they have paid a heavy price for their aspirations and the Premier League‘s Profit and Sustainability Rules, or PSR (formerly financial fair play, or FFP) are now catching up with them.
The club need to find £58m in player sale profit before the 30th June cut-off or face a potential points deduction or fine.
And one player linked with an exit in order to make up the shortfall could represent a brilliant bit of business for Aston Villa.
Jhon Duran could be sold for more than double his value
Colombian forward Jhon Duran is a long-term transfer target of Chelsea, who The Sun report could pay up to £42m for his services.
However, the latest research conducted by industry experts Football Benchmark suggests that, at £18m, the 20-year-old is worth less than half of that value.
The study ranks the most valuable players appearing at this year’s Copa America using an advanced formula that take into account a number of financial and sporting factors.
If Villa could recoup £42m for the player they signed for a little over £14m in January 2023, it would represent a major boon for their hopes of complying with Profit and Sustainability Rules.
Will Villa comply with FFP?
Villa are flirting with the upper limit of the Premier League’s financial fair play with just days to spare until the end of the assessment window.
This has resulted in a number of clubs scrambling to sell players in order to get within the £105m three-year allowable loss limit in time for what is being dubbed a mini deadline day.
Villa need to make up a shortfall of around £58m or they could suffer the same fate as Everton and Nottingham Forest in 2023-24 and be hit with a sanction or sporting punishment.
Even if Villa make it over the threshold for the 2023-24 assessment period, their task will only get more difficult next season.
The £100m sale of Jack Grealish has kept them afloat in FFP terms up until now, but next season his exit will no longer count towards Villa’s calculation.
Even with a raft of new bumper commercial deals and Champions League income, it could be a challenge for owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris to get their finances in line.