Why was the Alejandro Garnacho deal structured as a loan?

UEFA treats opposite-direction transfers between the same clubs as a player exchange if concluded within 45 days with similar payment terms, which would cut the booked profit on the £117m Morgan Rogers sale to Chelsea. A season loan with a £42.5m obligation triggering next season sits outside that window.

Aston Villa FFP, PSR & Squad Cost Ratio Tracker 2026/27

Q: What is Aston Villa's squad cost ratio right now?

Roughly 66% of football revenue on this tracker's estimates, against a 70% limit — after £200m+ of summer sales including the British-record £117m Morgan Rogers deal. UEFA tests calendar year 2026; the Premier League tests the 2026/27 season.

Q: How much have Aston Villa been fined by UEFA?

About £16m paid across 2025 and 2026, with roughly £26m more suspended — written off if Villa keep hitting their settlement targets.

Q: Did Aston Villa pass the Premier League's PSR?

Yes — including via £114m of intra-group asset sales which the Premier League accepted but UEFA did not. PSR's final assessment is January 2027.

State of Play

Squad Cost Ratio · Estimated

— / 70%

—70% wall · 100% red line

—

One 70% wall, enforced twice — UEFA on calendar 2026, the Premier League on season 2026/27.

Fee Room Left

—

before the List A gate · net of Boro sell-on

List A Churn

— · —

EL-winning list → projected CL list (~22): 4 new arrivals (3 bought + Garnacho loan) + returners, B→A grads & youth

UEFA Fines

£16m PAID

~£26m more suspended on hitting 2026 targets

The Clock — What's Counting Down

—

DAYS TO WINDOW CLOSE
1 SEP · 11PM

—

DAYS TO LIST A DEADLINE
~2 SEP · UEFA

—

DAYS TO PL SCR CHECKPOINT
OCT 2026

—

DAYS TO UEFA RATIO FREEZE
31 DEC · CALENDAR 2026

The Six Regulations — Pass / Fail / Room Left

PL PSR

Passed

EST USAGE: ~£0 of the £105m 3-yr loss allowance — deductions (academy, infra, women's) + £114m of asset sales turn the aggregate positive.

ROOM: cycle secured · one final test Jan 2027, then the rule retires.

UEFA SCR

Failed 2025 · TREND ENDORSED

NOW: — vs the 70% limit · fined £19.4m for a "significant breach", £6.5m paid.

LENIENCY: the CFCB formally credited the 2024→2025 improvement as in line with settlement projections — that's why 2/3 of the fine (£12.9m) was suspended.

ROOM: — of cost/yr before the line — keep the ratio falling through 31 Dec 2026 and the £12.9m never lands.

FER

In Settlement

TARGET: max UEFA-basis loss of just £4.3m this cycle (no intra-group sales allowed). EST: window sale profits push the FY26 result into surplus — target met with room, pending audit.

ROOM: this window's £140m+ of sale profits clears it with a distance · four-year monitoring to 2028/29.

PL SCR

Not Yet Tested

PROJECTED: — vs the 70% green line (red at 100%) · season basis.

ROOM: — of cost/yr · first checkpoint Oct 2026, assessment 1 Mar 2027.

List A Gate

Passing

USED: — of available sale credit committed · BALANCE: — in credit after the Boro sell-on.

ROOM: conservative fee-based view. The official test is cost-based & aggregate (savings from outs vs amortised costs of ins) — Villa pass it, but only by ~£1m/yr since the Garnacho wages and the 4% levy landed. Tested at the list deadline, ~2 Sep.

Loan Quotas (In · Senior)

1 + 6 Left

DOMESTIC (English clubs): 1 of 2 concurrent remaining — Garnacho uses one · season cap of 4 (3 left) · never more than 1 from the same club at a time · can't loan a player bought in the same window · max 1 GK between PL clubs.

INTERNATIONAL (FIFA): 6 of 6 SENIOR remaining — counts only over-21, non-club-trained players; U21 & club-trained loans are exempt entirely · max 3 from any single club.

ROOM: a Jackson-style loan would burn the last concurrent domestic slot — and because Garnacho is already the one Chelsea loan, a second Chelsea loanee is outright prohibited while he's here.

Quick Answers — Villa's Finances in Plain English

Are Aston Villa in trouble with FFP in 2026?

Partly. Villa are fully compliant with the Premier League's PSR, but breached UEFA's squad cost ratio in both 2024 and 2025, leading to a £19.4m fine in July 2026 — of which only £6.5m is payable, because UEFA formally recognised the improving trend. Villa remain under a UEFA settlement with monitoring to 2028/29.

What is Aston Villa's squad cost ratio right now?

Roughly 66% of football revenue on this app's estimates, against a 70% limit — after £200m+ of summer sales including the British-record £117m Morgan Rogers deal. UEFA tests calendar year 2026 (freezing 31 December); the Premier League tests the 2026/27 season with an October checkpoint.

How much have Villa been fined by UEFA?

About £16m paid across 2025 and 2026 (£9.5m settlement plus £6.5m in 2026), with roughly £26m more suspended — written off if Villa keep hitting their settlement targets, payable if they don't.

Can Villa still sign players this summer?

Yes. Under the UEFA settlement's List A transfer-balance condition Villa can register new players while cost savings from sales exceed the cost of arrivals — currently passed with ~£79m of fee room on the conservative view. The binding constraint is the 70% ratio: ~£19m/yr of cost headroom remains.

Why was the Garnacho deal a loan?

Structure. UEFA treats opposite-direction transfers between the same clubs as a swap if concluded within 45 days with similar payment terms — which would slash the booked profit on the £117m Rogers sale to Chelsea. Garnacho arriving on a season loan with a £42.5m obligation triggering next season sits outside that window and keeps the ~£93m profit clean.

Did Aston Villa pass the Premier League's PSR?

Yes — including via the £114m of intra-group asset sales (women's team and Warehouse) which the Premier League accepted but UEFA did not. PSR's final assessment is January 2027, after which it's replaced by the squad cost and sustainability rules.

The whole thing in two sentences: the PL accepted the women's-team sale, UEFA didn't — so Villa are compliant at home while paying fines in Europe. This window's £140m+ of sale profits and −£0.9m/yr cost swing is the exit route; the detail lives in the other tabs.

Incomings & Outgoings

Summer 2026 window (opened 15 June, closes 1 September — delayed by the World Cup). Fees per media reports; several deals at medical/verbal stage are flagged.

Summer 2026 — Out

Player	To	Fee £m	Wage £k/wk	Cost freed £m/yr	Profit £m	Status

Summer 2026 — In

Player	From	Fee £m	Wage £k/wk	SCR cost £m/yr	Status

Fees Out (sales)

—

Confirmed + advanced permanent deals

Fees Committed (buys)

—

Confirmed + advanced permanent deals

Net Window Balance

—

Positive balance required before List A registrations

Annual Cost Freed (outs)

—

Wages + stopped amortisation leaving both SCR numerators

Annual Cost Added (ins)

—

Fee÷5 amortisation + wages + ~5% agent fee

Net SCR Swing

—

Change to the annual squad-cost numerator from this window

How the columns map to the rules: SCR cost / Cost freed hits the numerator of BOTH the UEFA 70% and PL 70% ratios (identical cost base, different clocks) · Profit feeds the FER earnings calculation AND both SCR denominators · Fee moves the List A transfer balance. Wages are estimates.

Sales lead the window by design. Tielemans (free signing) and Rogers (£8m book cost, largely amortised) convert almost entirely to accounting profit, which hits both the FER earnings calculation and the SCR denominator. Amadou Onana's ACL injury at the World Cup is why midfield is where the money is going.

2025/26 Season — In (Summer 25 + Jan 26)

Player	From	Fee £m	Window

2025/26 Season — Out

Player	To	Fee £m	Window

Last season's £71m gross spend was the second-lowest in the Premier League (only Fulham spent less) — the settlement in action. Jacob Ramsey's £39m sale to Newcastle was effectively forced: an academy graduate is 100% profit in the books.

Spending Headroom

"Room" means three different things for Villa: the List A balance (hard gate, per-window), the UEFA 70% ratio (calendar year), and the PL SCR — which for clubs in Europe is ALSO capped at 70% (season basis, red threshold 100%). The model below is adjustable — the defaults are my estimates, so put your own numbers in.

Hard gate — List A registration room

Sales banked / advanced

—

Rogers, Tielemans, Malen, Barrenechea, Dobbin, Digne

Committed on signings

—

Manzambi, Gomes, Cissé

Gross fee room before balance turns negative

—

Max further spend registrable on the CL List A (due ~2 Sep) with no further sales — after deducting Boro's ~£20.3m sell-on share on Rogers

Committed but deferred: the Garnacho obligation (£42.5m, expected to trigger for next season) is this window's hidden liability — it consumes none of this year's List A balance or squad cost, but it is a near-certain claim on NEXT summer's pool: ~£8.5m/yr of amortisation from FY28 plus his wages already on the book. Bean counters call this "buy now, count later."

The Fined Four — July 2026's CFCB Round, Compared

Four English clubs were fined in UEFA's July 2026 decisions. Same rulebook, very different situations — and very different exit routes.

Club	2026 Fine	Suspended	Breach	Settlement	Exit Route
Aston Villa	£19.4m	£12.9m	SCR 2025 ("significant") · 2nd straight	4-yr to 2028/29 · £9.5m paid 2025 · trend formally ENDORSED	£144m of player-sale profits + record Visit Rwanda deal — selling the squad's appreciation
Chelsea	£2.6m	—	SCR · repeat	4-yr · £26.7m paid, up to £51m conditional	Academy sales (pure profit) + intra-group hotel sales the PL accepted — and now the Rogers/Garnacho tightrope
Newcastle	£2.6m + £8.6m	—	BOTH SCR and FER — the double	Obligations continue despite missing Europe	Isak to Liverpool for £125m — one sale to rule the FY25 accounts
Nottm Forest	£2.2m	—	SCR	—	Anderson to City for £116m weeks later — fine dwarfed 53:1 by one transfer

Villa's fine is the largest by far — but Villa is also the only club whose improving trend was formally credited by the CFCB, with two-thirds suspended against continued compliance. The pattern across all four: every exit route runs through selling players. The rulebook fines you in millions and lets you settle in transfers.

How the gate actually works (per UEFA's published settlement summary): it's an aggregate, cost-based test — total cost savings from outgoings (wages + stopped amortisation) vs total new costs from incomings (amortised fee over max 5 yrs + wages + agent fees), measured at each List A submission deadline. One-in-one-out is NOT required: the Rogers proceeds can be split across as many signings as the pool covers, and because incoming fees count amortised while a sale removes a player's entire annual cost, the official test is materially more generous than the raw fee balance shown above — though after the Garnacho wages and the 4% levy, Villa’s net cost saving has narrowed to ~£1m/yr: still passing, no longer comfortable.

Annual constraint — squad cost ratio model

Squad cost = player & coach wages + transfer amortisation + agent fees. Denominator = football revenue + player-trading profit (3-yr average, per UEFA's smoothing). Edit any figure:

Projected 2026 revenue £m

3-yr avg sale profit £m

SCR wages £m

Amortisation £m

Agent fees £m

UEFA SCR · limit 70%

—limit 70%

—

PL SCR (in Europe) · green 70% · red 100%

—green 70%

—

What-if: add a signing

Transfer fee £m

Wages £k/week

Contract yrs (amort. max 5)

Added annual squad cost

—

amortisation (incl. 4% PL levy) + wages + est. agent fee

UEFA ratio after signing

—

vs 70% limit

List A balance after fee

—

Must stay positive to register

Rule of thumb: every £1m/yr of ratio headroom buys either ~£5m of transfer fee (5-yr amortisation) or ~£19k/week of wages. On the default assumptions, the practical shape of the remaining window is roughly — — but remember the settlement condition isn't a number, it's a direction: the 2026 ratio must be significantly lower than 2025's, or the suspended £12.9m lands. Spending the headroom to the limit would risk exactly that.

Caveats: revenue projection assumes CL league phase + Europa League winner prize money + Super Cup + commercial growth on FY25's £378m. The wages figure is the SCR-relevant slice (players + head coach), not the £273m total staff bill — and remember loan players count fully in the SCR numerator through their wages (Garnacho adds ~£6m/yr with zero amortisation), so keep loanees inside the wage input. On agent fees: UEFA counts them as their own SCR category; our amortisation estimate is accounts-based and already contains the amortised slice of past capitalised agent fees, so pairing it with the separate £18m agents line double-counts a few £m — deliberately, as a conservative margin for a club under settlement. UEFA's precise adjustments (e.g. which income lines qualify, FX, averaging mechanics) mean the true ratio will differ — treat this as a planning tool, not a compliance calculation.

Rumour Mill

Tick any combination of live rumours (fees and wages are my estimates of reported figures) and the panel at the bottom recalculates the effect on every rule: List A balance, UEFA 70%, PL SCR (also 70% for clubs in Europe), FER earnings and settlement optics. Uses the same base assumptions as the Headroom tab, so tweaks there flow through here. Budget options like Mandela Keita (Parma) and Pape Gueye (Villarreal) are also on Emery's shortlist at materially lower cost.

Incoming rumours

Outgoing rumours

List A balance

—

Δ annual squad cost

—

UEFA SCR

—

PL SCR

—

Profit booked (FER)

—

Select rumours above to model a scenario.

How each lever maps to the rules: an incoming deal adds (fee + the PL’s 4% levy)÷5 + wages + ~5% agent fee to both SCR numerators and consumes List A room, with zero benefit anywhere. An outgoing deal does the opposite three times over — savings into the List A balance, wages + remaining amortisation out of the numerator, and the profit (fee − book value) into FER earnings and the SCR denominator. That's why one Konsa-sized sale funds roughly two Garnacho-sized signings in compliance terms, whatever it costs in football terms. (The scenario panel uses the conservative fee basis for the List A gate — the official test is cost-based and more generous; see Headroom.)

Squad · Book Value & Amortisation

Senior squad after this summer's confirmed/advanced exits. Book value is computed live: straight-line amortisation of the reported fee from signing date to current contract end (extensions re-spread the remaining value — this is the standard treatment). Wages are Capology-reported figures (cross-checked Jul 2026 vs bet365/GiveMeSport/SalaryLeaks) — still estimates, not official. Tap a column to sort.

Player	Pos	Fee £m	Signed	Contract End	Yrs Left	Amort £m/yr	Book Value £m	Mkt Val £m	Profit If Sold £m	Est Wage £k/wk

💰 highlighted rows = est. profit if sold ≥£20m — where market value towers over book value (Kamara arrived free; Konsa’s 2019 fee is nearly amortised, so Villa’s reported £60m ask is ~95% pure profit). Watkins qualifies at the £30m Fener money (~£23m profit, ~85% pure). These are the bean counter’s favourite players and the football department’s nightmare. Market values are Transfermarkt-style estimates — except Konsa (£60m) and Watkins (£30m), which use the asking prices from live talks per the Rumour Mill. Not listed individually (academy/low book value, most out on loan): Zych (Vitória), Kadan Young (Annecy), Feeney, Sousa, Jimoh-Aloba, plus keeper James Wright — collectively immaterial to the amortisation picture but pure profit if ever sold. Free transfers & academy players carry £0 book value (that's why selling them is pure PSR/FER profit). Undisclosed fees estimated where flagged ~. Wages triangulated across six databases — Capology, AiScore, TransferFeed (€), GiveMeSport/Birmingham Live contract reporting, SalaryLeaks and footballfancast — using the majority figure where they diverge (they often do). New-signing wages are estimates until the databases catch up with the window. Amortisation shown on remaining contract; UEFA and the PL both cap the amortisation schedule for new deals at 5 years even on longer contracts.

Squad Book Value

—

Sum of estimated carrying values

Annual Amortisation

—

Current squad only. Club-wide FY25 charge was £100m (+£6.5m impairment)

Est. Squad Wages

—

Estimated senior squad only. Total club FY25 wage bill: £273m (incl. staff, bonuses)

Onana's ACL and the SCR — four separate hits, one offset: an injury gives no relief under the Squad Cost Ratio. (1) His wages (~£6m/yr est.) stay in the numerator in full while he plays zero minutes. (2) His ~£10m/yr amortisation on the £50m fee keeps charging regardless. (3) He was one of Villa's few remaining big saleable midfield assets — the injury removes a potential ~£30m-book-value sale from the toolkit at exactly the moment sale profits are the compliance strategy, and instead forced ~£97m of replacement spend on Manzambi and Gomes (adding ~£20m/yr of new squad cost). (4) If his carrying value is judged impaired, an impairment charge lands in the numerator too — impairments count as squad cost, so a write-down would worsen the ratio in the year it's booked. The one offset: because the injury happened on international duty at the World Cup, FIFA's Club Protection Programme reimburses a capped share of his fixed salary (up to ~£6.5m/€7.5m per year, max 365 days) — that softens the cash and earnings hit, though it doesn't remove his wages from the SCR numerator itself.

Amortisation Runway — What's Already Committed

Transfer-fee amortisation locked into future seasons from today's contracts (straight-line on remaining book value), plus the Garnacho obligation landing from FY28. This is spending that's already eaten before Villa buy anyone else.

Assumes current contracts run to term (sales remove their bars; extensions re-spread them). Garnacho: £42.5m over a 4-year deal from 2027/28, conditions expected to be met. Amber = committed but not yet on the books.

UEFA List A — 2025/26 Europa League

Villa's List A as registered from the round of 16 (Feb 2026) — the squad that won the trophy, beating Freiburg 3–0 in Istanbul on 20 May. 21 players named of a possible 25. Players who have since left, or are leaving this summer, are flagged.

List A Transition · 2025/26 EL Winners → 2026/27 Champions League

Each position: who's gone off last season's list, who stays, and who fills the hole — with deal status. 21 registered last season; 7 have left, Bailey is close behind, and Onana's ACL removes another in all but name. Only advanced deals are classed in/out — loose links stay dimmed or in the Rumour Mill.

Goalkeepers

Out · 0

Nobody—

Retained · 2

Emiliano MartínezSTAYS · Juve interest not advanced

Marco BizotSTAYS

In · 1

James WrightB → A · CLUB-TRAINED KEEPER

NET: Wright ages off List B to become the club-trained third keeper — a quota-friendly No.3. Loose Juve/Chevalier chatter lives in the Rumour Mill, not here.

Defenders

Out · 2

Lucas DignePSG · CLAUSE, POST-WC

Andrés GarcíaGETAFE LOAN

Retained · 6

Matty CashSTAYS

Ezri KonsaARSENAL PREPARING BID

Pau TorresSTAYS

Ian MaatsenSTAYS

Victor LindelöfSTAYS

Tyrone MingsSELECTION CALL

In · 3

Pervis EstupiñánDIGNE REPLACEMENT · TERMS AGREED

Modou Kéba CisséSIGNED · NEEDS A SPOT*

Lamare BogardeB → A · CLUB-TRAINED

NET: 2 out → 3 in — deeper than last season, and Bogarde easing the club-trained quota that cost Villa 4 empty slots.

Midfielders — the rebuild

Out · 6 (5 deals + 1 injury)

Morgan RogersCHELSEA £117m · COMPLETED · BRITISH RECORD

Youri TielemansMAN UTD £35m

Douglas LuizLOAN ENDED

Harvey ElliottLOAN ENDED

Jadon SanchoLOAN ENDED

Amadou OnanaACL — EXPECTED TO MISS THE CAMPAIGN · NOT A SALE

Retained · 1

John McGinnSTAYS

In · 4

Johan ManzambiSIGNED · £59.5m RECORD

João GomesSIGNED · OFFICIAL 20 JUL

Boubacar KamaraRETURNS TO THE LIST

Ross BarkleySQUAD-DEPTH CALL

NET: 6 unavailable → 4 in — the entire engine room replaced in one window, and Onana's wages + amortisation stay on the books throughout. A Palhinha-type would slot straight in here.

Forwards

Out · 1

Leon BaileyHULL · ADVANCED · £12m + £3m ADD-ONS

Retained · 3

Ollie WatkinsSTAYS · Fener talks went nowhere

Tammy AbrahamSTAYS

Emiliano BuendíaSTAYS

In · 4 (+ target)

Alejandro GarnachoOFFICIAL · SEASON LOAN + £42.5m OBLIGATION

Evann GuessandBACK FROM PALACE LOAN — RETURN THERE MOOTED

AlyssonEXPECTED A SPOT · NOT B-ELIGIBLE

Brian MadjoEXPECTED A SPOT · NOT B-ELIGIBLE

Ibrahim MbayeTARGET — NOT ADVANCED

NET: 1 out → 4 in — Garnacho IS the winger arrival — Summerville has gone to the Saudi Pro League, leaving Mbaye as the only live wide target. With Alysson and Madjo taking A spots, the list is filling: the last places are now genuinely contested.

*Cissé, Alysson and Madjo are young but NOT List B eligible — List B needs two uninterrupted years at the club since the 15th birthday. All three are currently expected to take full A spots; a late signing is what would put that under pressure. List B (unlimited, U-22 + 2yrs at club) still covers the academy crop.

The registration rule that shapes everything: under the settlement, Villa "may not register any new player on List A unless the List A transfer balance is positive." For the 2026/27 Champions League list (due ~2 September), every new signing — Manzambi, Gomes, Cissé and any others — must be covered by sales first. The Rogers and Tielemans fees clear that bar comfortably.

UEFA Sanction Tracker

The SCR Glidepath

Villa line is directional (UEFA does not publish exact club ratios) · *£6.5m payable, £12.9m suspended on continued improvement. The limit stepped 90% → 80% → 70% as UEFA phased the rule in.

Season 2023/24

Warning shot

SCR within the 90% limit then in force, but fined £50,000 for late submission of financial information. FER pressure building underneath.

4 July 2025

Settlement agreement — £9.5m paid, £12.9m suspended

Breach of both the Football Earnings Rule (~£52m/3yr limit — intra-group asset sales excluded) and the 80% Squad Cost Ratio for calendar 2024. Sanction: £5.2m SCR fine + £4.3m of a £17.2m FER penalty payable, remaining £12.9m suspended under a multi-year settlement with a four-year monitoring period. Conditions: financial targets each year, and the List A positive-transfer-balance restriction. Directly triggered the £39m Ramsey sale.

Season 2025/26

Living under the settlement

Gross spend of £71m, second-lowest in the league; net spend ~£21m. Missed out on Conor Gallagher to Spurs' higher bid. Ezri Konsa said the restrictions "killed" the club's window. Won the Europa League anyway.

Early July 2026

Second SCR breach — £19.4m, but 2/3 suspended for improvement

Above the 70% SCR limit for calendar 2025, alongside Chelsea (£2.6m fine, £1.7m suspended), Newcastle (£2.6m SCR + a new £8.6m FER settlement) and Forest (£2.2m). Villa's headline fine was the biggest — UEFA called it a "significant breach" — but the treatment was notably lenient: the CFCB formally recognised the drastic 2024→2025 improvement as in line with the settlement projections and suspended £12.9m, conditional only on the ratio continuing to fall in 2026. Read together: the breach was still the largest in England, but UEFA publicly endorsed the direction of travel.

Now → FY2026 assessment

The exit route

≈£16m paid to date; up to ~£26m still hanging across the two suspended tranches. Get under (or close enough to) 70% in calendar 2026 — via the Rogers/Tielemans sale profits, CL revenue and a lower wage bill — and the suspended amounts fall away with the settlement ending after 2027/28.

Last Accounts — FY2024/25 (y/e 30 June 2025)

The season of the Champions League quarter-final run (beaten by eventual winners PSG) and 6th place. Headline: a £17m pre-tax profit. Reality: it only exists because of £114m of one-off asset sales to sister companies.

Revenue (club record)

£378m

+37% on FY24's £276m

Pre-tax result

+£17m

vs −£86m in FY24

…excluding asset sales

−£97m

Underlying loss actually worsened by £11m

Operating loss

−£140m

Barely improved on FY24's −£145m

Wage bill

£273m

~72% of revenue (down from 96% two years prior)

Player amortisation

£100m

+ £6.5m impairment charge

Revenue mix

Broadcasting

£241m

Commercial

£91m

Matchday

£38m

Player loans

£7.9m

Confirmed for 2026/27 — the new shirt money: Visit Rwanda becomes front-of-shirt sponsor (multi-year, up to £20m/yr with bonuses — reported as the most lucrative deal in club history, covering men's, women's and academy shirts), while Betano extends as sleeve sponsor (announced 23 Jul, undisclosed, said to beat the previous Trade Nation sleeve deal). The regulatory story: the Premier League's front-of-shirt gambling ban starts this season — which is why Betano's £20m/yr front deal (2024's club record, timed to expire exactly at the ban) slides to the sleeve. The bean-counter's read: the headline £20m replaces Betano's £20m at par, so the true uplift is the sleeve upgrade (~£5m/yr est) — but the real win is what DIDN'T happen: other clubs simply lose their gambling front money at the ban; Villa replaced it at full value AND kept Betano's money on the arm. Every pound lands in the SCR denominator and FER earnings from FY27. Worth noting honestly: the Visit Rwanda deal has drawn supporter criticism on sportswashing grounds — commercially significant and contested.

How −£140m became +£17m

Operating loss	−£140m
Profit on player sales (Durán etc.)	+£52m
Profit on sale of women's team → intra-group	+£78m
Profit on sale of The Warehouse operating rights → intra-group	+£36m
Net interest payable	−£8.9m
Pre-tax profit	+£17m

The whole story in one line: the Premier League's PSR counts that +£114m; UEFA's FER doesn't. Which is why Villa are simultaneously "PSR compliant" at home and paying fines in Europe. Also worth noting the FY24 comparative covered 13 months (year-end moved May→June→back), flattering the year-on-year cost growth by ~£33m.

Rules & Compliance Status

Every regime that applies to Villa, the limit in pounds, and where the club stands. "FFP" itself no longer exists as a single rule — it's the old umbrella name, now split into UEFA's FER + SCR and the Premier League's PSR (becoming SCR + SSR).

COMPLIANT CLOSE / UNDER SETTLEMENT NOT COMPLIANT

Compliance calendar

~2 Sep 2026CL LIST A DEADLINE

31 Dec 2026UEFA SCR YEAR ENDS

Jan 2027FINAL PL PSR ASSESSMENT

Oct 2026PL SCR MONITORING

~Early Feb 2027CL KNOCKOUT LIST WINDOW

1 Mar 2027PL SCR ASSESSMENT

Summer 2027CFCB VERDICT ON 2026

7 Jul 2027SSR TESTS

2028/29UEFA MONITORING ENDS

Premier League · to end of 2025/26

Compliant

PSR — Profitability & Sustainability

LIMIT: £105m max pre-tax loss over rolling 3 years (£15m if not equity-funded)

BasisClub financial years (Villa's y/e 30 June) — aggregate of FY24 + FY25 + FY26.

What countsAggregate 3-yr pre-tax result, with deductions for infrastructure, academy, community & women's football costs. Intra-group asset sales at fair value ARE allowed.

VillaVerified compliant by the Premier League. The women's-team sale (£78m profit, plus £36m on The Warehouse operating rights — £114m combined) turned an underlying −£97m year into +£17m, anchoring the 3-year sum inside £105m.

DeadlineAccounts submitted by 31 Dec 2026 → final-ever PSR assessment January 2027. After that the rule is retired.

UEFA · the binding constraint

Breached ×2

SCR — Squad Cost Ratio (UEFA)

LIMIT: squad cost ≤ 70% of adjusted revenue + net player-sale profit (phased 90% → 80% → 70%)

BasisCalendar year — the current test period is 1 Jan – 31 Dec 2026. This is why summer sales help twice: they cut H2 wages AND book profit inside the same measurement year.

What countsPlayer + head-coach wages — including wages of loaned-in players (Garnacho's ~£6m/yr counts in full despite £0 amortisation) — plus loan fees, transfer amortisation/impairment and agent fees. The PL’s 4% transfer levy and FIFA’s 5% solidarity contribution capitalise into registration cost and ride along inside the amortisation. Amortisation capped at 5 years for new deals.

VillaBreached the 80% limit in 2024 (£5.2m fine) and the 70% limit in 2025 — the largest SCR fine in England at £19.4m for a "significant breach", but only £6.5m payable. The CFCB formally credited the drastic 2024→2025 improvement ("in line with projections submitted as part of their settlement agreement") and suspended the remaining £12.9m — proportionally the same leniency shown to Chelsea (£2.6m fine, £1.7m suspended). Red because still above the line; the trajectory, though, carries UEFA's written endorsement.

DeadlineRatio must show a significant decrease by 31 December 2026; clubs report in spring and the CFCB verdict lands summer 2027 — miss it and the suspended £12.9m crystallises.

UEFA · "FER" — yes, that's the one

In settlement

FER — Football Earnings Rule

LIMIT: ~£52m (€60m) max loss over 3 years · +~£8.6m/yr more if in "good financial health"

BasisFinancial years — the 3-year aggregate of the club's own accounting periods (Villa's y/e 30 June), assessed annually by the CFCB.

What countsUEFA's PSR equivalent — but it EXCLUDES profits on asset sales to related parties, player swaps (see the Swap-Deal rule card) and related-party transfers. The women's-team sale is invisible here.

VillaBreached → 3-year settlement (Jul 2025): £4.3m paid of a £17.2m penalty, £12.9m suspended. This month's UEFA sanction was SCR-only — no fresh FER penalty, consistent with the intermediate targets being met. The reported settlement target for 2025/26 was a maximum UEFA-basis loss of just £4.3m — a brutal bar that the Rogers/Tielemans profits exist to clear.

DeadlineNext intermediate target: the FY ending 30 June 2027 (FY26 accounts feed the summer-2027 review); the settlement carries a four-year monitoring period (to 2028/29), at the end of which the remaining suspended amounts are written off or enforced.

Premier League · live from 2026/27

Could be close

SCR — Squad Cost Ratio (PL)

CLUBS IN EUROPE (incl. Villa): green 70% · red 100% — CLUBS NOT IN EUROPE: green 85% · red 115% · +£33m/3yr equity top-up (max £15m/season)

BasisSeason / financial year (2026/27, i.e. y/e 30 June 2027) — unlike UEFA's calendar-year clock. A January signing therefore hits the PL calculation for this season but splits across two UEFA years.

What countsSame cost base as UEFA's version, and the denominator explicitly includes net profit/loss on player sales. Two-tier enforcement: over green but under red = fine (levies only payable for breaches from 2027/28); over red = risk of sporting sanctions. The intra-group asset-sale loophole Villa used under PSR is explicitly closed.

VillaAs a Champions League club, Villa's domestic green threshold is 70% — the BBC lists Villa by name among the nine capped clubs. So there is no soft domestic option: the same 70% bar applies at home and in Europe, just on different clocks. The 2026/27 season projection (~66% on the model defaults, helped by CL + Super Cup revenue and ~£93m net Rogers profit) sits inside it, but with only a few points of margin — hence amber. Breaching green but staying under 100% means a levy, not points; the buffer also RATCHETS: use it one season and next season's red threshold drops by the same amount, earned back at 10%/season of full compliance.

DeadlineMonitoring checkpoint October 2026; formal assessment 1 March 2027, after the January window. Levies for breaches only bite from 2027/28 — 2026/27 is a transition year.

Premier League · live from 2026/27

Expected pass

SSR — Sustainability & Systemic Resilience

TESTS: liquidity headroom ≥ £0 after an £85m stress test · positive equity ratio ≤90% (26/27) → 85% (27/28) → 80% (28/29+)

BasisTested 7 July each year (newly promoted clubs: 31 October), covering the current and following season.

What countsNot a spending cap — solvency tests. The liquidity calculation counts 40% of squad market value as a liquid asset; the £85m stress test models relegation or missing Europe. Owner equity injections count in a club's favour.

VillaV Sports (Sawiris/Edens/Atairos) have consistently funded via equity, and accounts are prepared on a going-concern basis with owner support confirmed. No indication of an issue.

DeadlineFirst full tests 7 July 2027 for 2026/27, with in-season submissions from the start of the season.

UEFA settlement condition

Satisfied

List A transfer-balance rule

CONDITION: List A transfer balance must be positive before any new player is registered

BasisAggregate and cost-based, per UEFA's published settlement summary: the difference between the cost savings from ALL outgoing players (wages + amortisation that stop) and the new costs from ALL incoming players (amortised fee, max 5 yrs, + wages + agent fees), tested at each List A submission deadline. NOT one-in-one-out — one big sale funds multiple registrations. Applies unconditionally in 25/26 & 26/27, conditionally after; miss a settlement target by €10–20m and the calculated cost savings take a haircut.

VillaOn the official cost basis Villa pass easily: this window frees ~£42.9m/yr of squad cost against ~£42m/yr of new cost — a net saving of just ~£1m/yr now the Garnacho wages and the 4% levy are counted (the "Net SCR Swing" on the Ins & Outs tab is effectively this test). The fee-based view (+£79m after the Boro sell-on) remains comfortable. Green, but barely — every new registration re-tests it at the deadline, and a Garner-sized signing needs a matching exit.

DeadlineCL league-phase List A due ~2 September 2026 (day after the window shuts); up to three additions permitted in the knockout registration window closing early February 2027.

UEFA Annex G.3.5 + PL FMV protocols

Formally warned

Swap-Deal / Player-Exchange Rule

TEST: opposite-direction transfers between the same two clubs = an EXCHANGE if (a) concluded within 45 DAYS of each other AND (b) with the same/similar payment obligations, deadlines or dates · recognised value = the LOWER of the fee and residual book value

What countsSubstance over form, not a fixed day-count — deals weeks apart can be linked (Newcastle's Anderson sale was tied to the Vlachodimos purchase, wiping £30m+ off their UEFA trading profit). For academy players the book value is £0, so an exchange kills the profit entirely; under IAS 38, if fair value can't be measured, NO profit can be recognised. The PL runs its own fair-market-value assessment protocols for player registrations (Handbook, App 19).

VillaThis rule exists partly BECAUSE of Villa: Maatsen↔Kellyman (Chelsea), Dobbin↔Iroegbunam (Everton) and Douglas Luiz↔Iling-Junior+Barrenechea (Juventus) were the textbook cases. Following the July 2026 fines, UEFA has reportedly issued a formal warning to Villa and Chelsea over inflated swaps — with heavier fines and a potential European ban on the table for a repeat.

ConsequenceThis is live RIGHT NOW: Garnacho has officially joined from Chelsea days after Rogers went the other way for £117m. The deal is engineered around the rule — an initial season LOAN with a £42.5m conditional obligation triggering next season — pushing the permanent conclusion well outside the 45-day window and onto entirely different payment terms, so the ~£93m Rogers profit stays clean. If UEFA nonetheless deemed the two deals one exchange, that profit could be slashed towards book value — which is why both clubs are publicly framing them as unrelated. The same logic applies to any Konsa-to-Arsenal traffic. The era of the casual academy swap is over.

Terminology · where "FFP" went

FFP → what it means now

"Financial Fair Play" (2010) was rebranded by UEFA in 2022 as Financial Sustainability Regulations: solvency (no overdue payables) + stability (FER) + cost control (SCR). Domestically, the PL's version was PSR (2013), now being replaced by SCR + SSR from 2026/27. So when pundits say Villa have an "FFP problem", the precise version is: a UEFA SCR problem, managed under an FER settlement, while fully PSR-compliant at home.

Accounting mechanics

Amortisation & "pure profit"

Fees spread over the contract (max 5 years); sale profit = fee received − remaining book value − any sell-on shares owed, booked instantly. Academy products (Ramsey £39m, Barry) and free transfers (Tielemans £35m) are ~100% profit; £117m for Rogers against a largely-amortised £8m cost books ~£93m net once Middlesbrough's 20% sell-on share (~£20.3m) is deducted. Buying works the other way: Manzambi at ~£59.5m adds only ~£11.9m/yr of cost. That asymmetry is the entire logic of Villa's summer.

The Whole League — Bean Counted

All 20 clubs for 2026/27: which SCR tier they're in, their latest published accounts (FY2024/25, y/e mid-2025), and their compliance baggage. Nine clubs in Europe carry the 70% green / 100% red caps; the other eleven get 85% / 115%. Notes updated 24 Jul — officially announced deals and appointments only; pursuits and links stay in the Rumour Mill. Figures marked ~ are estimates from league-wide analyses rather than confirmed line items — FY25 league totals: £6.8bn revenue, £4.4bn wages, £2.0bn amortisation, £948m aggregate pre-tax losses.

Club	Europe 26/27	Green cap	Rev £m	Wages £m	W/R	Compliance notes
Arsenal	CL · CHAMPIONS	70%	~617	~328	~53%	Comfortable on both ratios; CL runners-up 25/26. Amortisation £170m+ the main cost line.
Manchester City	CL	70%	~715	408	~57%	New era: Maresca replaces Guardiola. Broke the British record for Forest’s Anderson (£116m, fixed fee) — absorbed inside 70% by a £715m revenue base.
Manchester United	CL	70%	~666	~313	~47%	Carrick made permanent manager; ~£85m midfield rebuild (Santos £50m, Tielemans £35m from Villa). £196m amortisation, but a £666m denominator makes 70% easy.
ASTON VILLA	CL · EL HOLDERS	70%	378	273	72%	The subject of this app: mid-settlement, fined twice, trend endorsed — and the £117m British-record Rogers sale is the exit route. See every other tab.
Liverpool	CL	70%	~614	~386	~63%	Iraola officially appointed (4 Jun, 2-yr deal) after Slot was sacked a year on from the title. FY25 wages inflated by title bonuses after £241m on Isak (£125m) & Wirtz. Squad cost £545m, big denominator.
Bournemouth	EUROPA	70%	~175	~140	~80%	Flagged spending near capacity in FY25 — and first-ever Europe now drags them from 85% to the 70% cap just as Iraola officially left for Liverpool. The squeeze case, squeezed further.
Sunderland	EUROPA	70%	~180*	~95*	~53%	*FY25 = first PL season back. Europe two seasons after League One — the 70% cap lands on a still-growing revenue base.
Crystal Palace	EUROPA · CONF WINNERS	70%	~190	~135	~71%	Conference League winners — then Glasner officially departed for Forest. Second straight European season keeps them on the 70% cap, right on the line like Villa.
Brighton	CONFERENCE	70%	~222	~165	~74%	FY25 costs rose sharply on amortisation; historically balanced by elite player trading profits.
Chelsea	—	85%	~541	~360	~67%	Xabi Alonso era. UEFA settlement (£26.7m paid, up to £51m conditional), fined again Jul 2026 — then broke their record for Rogers (£117m) days after loaning Garnacho to Villa, walking the swap-rule tightrope. League-high £212m amortisation; missing Europe eases the cap to 85%.
Newcastle	—	85%	~350	~220	~63%	Fined Jul 2026 for BOTH SCR and FER breaches; FY25 leaned on selling Isak to Liverpool for £125m. Settlement obligations continue despite missing Europe.
Tottenham	—	85%	~526	~222	~42%	Lowest wage ratio among the big-revenue clubs — the league's most comfortable bean-counting position.
Nottingham Forest	—	85%	~190	~155	~82%	Fined £2.2m in Jul 2026 — then banked £116m selling Anderson to City, transforming the FER/PSR picture overnight. Glasner confirmed as head coach 6 Jul (reported club-record ~£13m/yr salary) — their FIFTH boss in 12 months.
Everton	—	85%	~187	~160	~86%	Two PSR deductions in 23/24; new stadium revenue is the plan for growing under the 85% cap.
Fulham	—	85%	~180	~145	~81%	Small-revenue cohort where 85% barely funds a competitive XI — the other side of the SCR squeeze.
Brentford	—	85%	~195	~125	~64%	The sustainability model club — comfortable margin on every metric.
Leeds	—	85%	~150*	~110*	~73%	*FY25 = promotion season. Second PL season consolidating.
Coventry	PROMOTED · CHAMPIONS	85%	~45*	~35*	~78%	*Championship-era accounts. PL broadcast money transforms the denominator overnight — big headroom if they spend sensibly.
Ipswich	PROMOTED	85%	~145*	~115*	~79%	*FY25 reflects their last PL season. Straight back up at the first attempt.
Hull	PROMOTED · PLAY-OFFS	85%	~30*	~28*	~93%	*Championship accounts. The biggest financial step-up in the division — SSR liquidity tests bite hardest here.

The tier divide is the story of 2026/27: nine clubs in Europe live at 70/100 while eleven live at 85/115 — meaning Chelsea, Newcastle, Spurs and Forest all get 15 points MORE domestic spending headroom than Villa precisely because they failed to qualify. UEFA settlement obligations (Chelsea, Newcastle, Villa) travel with the club regardless. And note the squeeze cases at both ends: Bournemouth and Palace dragged down to 70% by success, Fulham and the promoted clubs for whom even 85% of a small revenue is a hard ceiling.

Sources: Deloitte Annual Review (league totals), club accounts via Swiss Ramble/Maguire/BlueCityBrain analyses, UEFA CFCB statements. ~ figures are estimates; * marks accounts from a different division. Want the full Villa treatment (transfers, book values, A-list, headroom) for any specific club? Ask and I'll build it out.

Who's Selling to Survive — Net Transfer Balance

Sorted by net balance — the top of this table is where the selling pressure lives, the bottom is where the money goes.

THIS WINDOW: disclosed fees on officially completed 2026 deals only; undisclosed counted £0, loans & frees excluded; the Garnacho £42.5m is next season's Chelsea spend; Villa excludes the agreed-but-unofficial Digne fee. LAST 5 YEARS: net spend 2021/22–2025/26, Transfermarkt basis (€ converted), ~ = estimated. The two views tell one story from opposite ends: over five years Villa rank 5th-LOWEST in net spend while making the Champions League — and this window they're the second-biggest sellers anyway. Efficiency wasn't enough; the calendar-2025 breach demanded the fire sale on top of it.

Can Anyone Still Catch the Big Six?

The question underneath every number in this app. The honest answer: the old door is bricked up — but there's a turnstile, and Villa are halfway through it.

Why it feels closed — because it mostly is

The 70% rule is a percentage of revenue — so it doesn't cap spending, it caps spending relative to income. City's 70% of ~£715m buys a ~£500m squad; Villa's 70% of ~£510m buys ~£357m. The gap is locked in by design. And the FER kills the only ladder anyone ever actually climbed: Abramovich's Chelsea, early City, even Newcastle's takeover surge all spent ahead of revenue — exactly what's now illegal. The clubs at the top climbed the ladder, then wrote rules that pulled it up. Worse, the compliance machinery itself transfers talent upward: Villa's exit route was selling Rogers to Chelsea; Forest's was selling Anderson to City. The fined feed the rich.

The cracks in the door

1 · Grow the denominator. Every £1 of new revenue is 70p of new squad allowance — which is why the Visit Rwanda deal, Villa Park expansion plans and every European run matter as much as any signing. Compliant growth means revenue first, squad second. 2 · The trading engine. Net transfer profit counts IN the denominator and in FER earnings — selling well literally raises your cap. Brighton have run this loop for a decade; Villa's academy (Barry, Swinkels, Mosquera: pure profit) is the same machine starting up. 3 · Efficiency is legal. Kamara and Lindelöf free, Konsa at £75k/wk, fifth-lowest net spend in the league — the five-year table above is proof you can reach the Champions League on brains. 4 · The rich can now fail permanently. United's £650m for one top-four finish used to be survivable — just spend again. Under squad-cost rules, mistakes consume finite headroom even for giants. Bad buying is finally fatal at every level.

The bean counter's verdict: catching the Big Six in one leap is dead — the rules exist to prevent precisely that. What remains is a slower, harder arc: gatecrash Europe on efficiency, monetise it (prize money, sponsors, stadium), sell your stars for compliance fuel, and let revenue compound until the 70% of it rivals theirs. It takes a decade, it charges admission (usually your best player), and the turnstile admits roughly one club per cycle. Villa are further through it than anyone since Leicester — a Europa League trophy, Champions League revenue baking into the denominator, a record sponsor, and the league's most efficient five-year spend. The door isn't closed. It's just been redesigned so that only the well-run can fit through — which, Sawiris might note, is the financial game swallowing the sporting one whole.

Changelog

Every update to the Bean Counter's data, newest first. Maintained manually with each rebuild.

24 Jul 2026

Rogers completes — the British record is official

Morgan Rogers → Chelsea, £117m, done. Mosquera (Vitória SC) and Swinkels (Sheffield Wednesday) added as permanent exits; Redmond, Kadan Young and Zych logged on loans to partner clubs. League page refreshed with the summer's confirmed appointments and records: Iraola to Liverpool (4 Jun), Glasner to Forest (6 Jul), Anderson's £116m City move. New: deadline countdowns, the amortisation runway chart, official X announcements on deals, and this changelog.

23 Jul 2026

Garnacho official — and the 45-day rule documented

Season loan with a £42.5m conditional obligation triggering FY28 — engineered to sit outside UEFA's 45-day player-exchange window around the Rogers sale. Loan quotas corrected to senior-only (2 concurrent/4 per season domestic; 6 FIFA international); a Jackson loan ruled impossible under the one-per-club rule. Same day: Betano confirmed as sleeve sponsor — retained through the gambling front-of-shirt ban, undisclosed but reportedly above the old Trade Nation deal.

21–22 Jul 2026

Rumour Mill reshuffle

Out: Wharton, Bergvall, Baturina, Summerville (Saudi). In: Mbaye (PSG), Jackson (Chelsea), Martínez–Juventus talks, Watkins–Fenerbahçe (stalled), Guessand–Palace return mooted. Bailey → Hull upgraded to advanced (£12m + £3m). List A transition board rebuilt with strict advanced-only classification; Onana classed out (ACL).

20 Jul 2026

Gomes & Dobbin official · wages verified

João Gomes (£38m) and Lewis Dobbin (£9m) announced. Squad wages cross-checked against Capology: Martínez, McGinn, Cash, Lindelöf and Bailey all corrected upwards; window cost relief rose to ~£42m/yr. Squad audit added García and corrected the Guessand–Palace January loan.

19 Jul 2026

The Bean Counter launches

Live at bean-counter.co.uk/aston-villa. UEFA's leniency documented: £12.9m of the £19.4m fine suspended with the CFCB formally endorsing the improving trend. League tab added covering all 20 clubs' SCR tiers and FY25 accounts.

17 Jul 2026

Manzambi — the club record, officially

Villa announce Johan Manzambi from Freiburg: £59.5m/€70m including add-ons, a club record and the first signing of the window. The 20-year-old Swiss international takes the No.44 shirt — the number he wore against Villa in the Istanbul final.

14 Jul 2026

Visit Rwanda confirmed · Tielemans completes

Visit Rwanda announced as front-of-shirt sponsor — multi-year, up to £20m/yr with bonuses, reported as the most lucrative deal in club history, replacing Betano ahead of the Premier League's gambling front-of-shirt ban. The deal has drawn supporter criticism on sportswashing grounds. Same week: Youri Tielemans' £35m move to Manchester United completes — Villa's farewell honours the Europa League final volley and his Players' Player double.

Early Jul 2026

The CFCB rules — fined, but endorsed

UEFA's second SCR verdict: £19.4m for a "significant breach" of the 70% limit in 2025, alongside Chelsea, Newcastle and Forest — but only £6.5m payable, with £12.9m suspended after the CFCB formally credited the 2024→2025 improvement as in line with settlement projections. The window's entire strategy flows from this decision.

Glossary

Every rule in this app, in plain English — each with a real Villa example. For the group chat member who just asked "what's SCR?"

PSR (Profit & Sustainability Rules)

The Premier League's rule capping losses at £105m over a rolling three-year period (£35m/yr), after 'good' spending on academy, infrastructure, community and women's football is deducted. Villa passed their 2026 assessment — helped by £114m of asset sales the PL accepted — with one final test in January 2027 before PSR is replaced by squad-cost rules.

Squad Cost Ratio (UEFA SCR)

UEFA's rule limiting spending on the squad — player and head-coach wages, transfer amortisation and agent fees — to 70% of football revenue plus net transfer profit, tested on a calendar-year basis. Villa breached it in 2024 and 2025 and sit at roughly 66% for 2026 after £200m of summer sales.

PL Squad Cost Ratio (PL SCR)

The Premier League's version of the 70% squad cost rule, tested on a season basis rather than calendar year, phasing in from 2026/27 as PSR retires. Same cost base as UEFA's rule, different clock — Villa face an October checkpoint and a March 2027 assessment.

Football Earnings Rule (FER)

UEFA's successor to break-even: clubs may lose no more than €60m over three years (with add-ons), counting only football earnings — crucially, profits from selling players count, but intra-group asset sales do not. This is the rule Villa's women's-team sale failed to satisfy, and the reason UEFA and the PL reached opposite verdicts on the same accounts.

CFCB

UEFA's Club Financial Control Body — the panel that judges compliance, imposes fines and agrees settlements. In July 2026 it fined Villa £19.4m but suspended two-thirds, formally crediting the club's improving trend.

Settlement Agreement

A negotiated compliance plan with UEFA in place of escalating punishment: annual targets, monitoring, and suspended penalties that only bite if targets are missed. Villa's runs to 2028/29.

Suspended Fine

The portion of a fine written off if settlement targets are met, payable if they aren't. Villa carry ~£26m suspended — a behavioural leash, not a bill.

List A

A club's registered senior squad for UEFA competition, capped at 25 with homegrown quotas. Under Villa's settlement, adding players to List A is conditional on the transfer balance test.

Transfer Balance Condition

The settlement rule governing whether Villa can register new signings: aggregate cost savings from players sold must exceed the aggregate cost of players bought (amortised fee + wages + agent fees), measured at each List A deadline. Not one-in-one-out — one big sale can fund several signings.

Amortisation

Spreading a transfer fee as a cost over the contract length. A £59.5m signing on a five-year deal costs ~£11.9m/yr in the books — which is why fees are judged per-year while sales count at once.

Five-Year Amortisation Cap

UEFA and PL rule that fees must be amortised over a maximum of five years even on longer contracts — closing the eight-year-contract loophole Chelsea made famous.

Book Value

What's left of a player's fee still to be amortised. Sale profit = fee minus book value. Academy players carry £0 book value, which is why selling them is pure profit.

Pure Profit

Shorthand for selling a £0-book-value player (academy graduate or free transfer): the entire fee lands as profit for PSR/FER purposes. The engine of modern compliance.

45-Day Exchange Rule

UEFA Annex G.3.5: opposite-direction transfers between the same clubs within 45 days on similar payment terms are treated as a player exchange, valued at the LOWER of fee and book value — slashing bookable profit. The reason Garnacho arrived on a loan-with-obligation rather than a straight purchase after the £117m Rogers sale.

PL 4% Transfer Levy

A 4% surcharge on transfer fees paid by Premier League clubs, funding player pension and education schemes. It capitalises into the registration cost and amortises with the fee — a £40m signing really costs £41.6m.

FIFA Solidarity Contribution

Up to 5% of an international transfer fee distributed to the clubs that trained the player between ages 12 and 23. Rides inside the transfer cost for compliance purposes.

Intra-Group Asset Sale

Selling an asset (women's team, real estate) to a company under the same ownership to book profit. The PL accepted Villa's £114m of such sales for PSR; UEFA rejected them for FER. One transaction, two verdicts — the defining split of Villa's situation.

Sell-On Clause

A percentage of any future sale owed to a selling club. Middlesbrough's 20% on Morgan Rogers turned Villa's £117m record sale into ~£93m net.

Senior Loan Quotas

Limits on loan signings: domestically, max 2 concurrent (4 per season) from English clubs and never two from the same club; internationally, max 6 senior loans (over-21, non-club-trained) with U21 and academy players exempt.

SSR (Sustainability & Systemic Resilience)

The PL's incoming liquidity and solvency tests running alongside the squad cost rules — proving clubs can actually pay their bills. Bites hardest on promoted clubs making the revenue leap.

Headroom

The gap between current squad cost and the 70% line — the practical transfer budget. Villa's is ~£19m/yr of running cost, roughly one Garner-sized signing.

Calendar vs Season Test

UEFA tests the ratio over the calendar year (Villa's 2026 number freezes 31 December); the PL tests the season (assessment March 2027). The same window of sales improves both, on different clocks.