- Aston Villa could sign Douglas Luiz and other key stars before the end of June
- Club wants to balance the books to avoid breaching Premier League spending rules
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Douglas Luiz tops the list of players Aston Villa will consider selling this month to ensure they do not breach Premier League spending rules.
Villa saw Everton and Nottingham Forest gain eight and four points respectively last season and Mail Sport understands players can leave before June 30 – the cut-off point for the 2023-2024 reporting period.
Under current Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) regulations, top clubs are allowed to lose a maximum of £105m over a three-year period.
Mail Sport revealed on Monday that Villa had sent a proposal to their fellow Premier League clubs suggesting the cap would be increased to £135 million and hoped to vote on this at the shareholders’ meeting on June 6.
But with immediate change unlikely, Villa must look to player sales, with Luiz an obvious candidate.
Unai Emery and Aston Villa are willing to let some top stars leave to comply with regulations on profitability and sustainability
Douglas Luiz is most likely to look elsewhere with Juventus interested in the midfielder
Both Jhon Duran (left) and Jacob Ramsey (right) could also get a chance to look elsewhere
The Brazilian has two years left on his contract and is of interest to Juventus, with the Serie A club willing to offer around £25-30 million, plus US international Weston McKennie. Luiz has also attracted a lot of interest from Arsenal in the past.
Colombian forward Jhon Duran is another player who could leave for the right offer, while midfielder Jacob Ramsey could also move.
Ramsey is homegrown, meaning the transfer fee Villa receives counts as pure profit under PSR rules.
However, Villa will do everything they can to resist offers for their prize signing Ollie Watkins, who scored 27 goals in all competitions last season.
Villa boss Unai Emery wants to add players for next season’s Champions League campaign, with Ross Barkley signing a three-year contract and Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher also of interest. Yet he cannot do this without first balancing the books.
