The blockbuster £50m Aston Villa and Brentford transfer swap deal that could supercharge both teams – opinion
Swap deals are becoming all the more regular – and Aston Villa could convince Brentford to agree to one
Aston Villa may have to get even more inventive than usual with their transfer business this summer.
The Villans now have less than three weeks until the deadline to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) and need to make one significant sale – or sanction several less lucrative departures – sooner rather than later. Premier League clubs are not allowed to record losses of more than £105 million in a three-year period and Villa are on track to fail in that regard.
So, not only will Villa have to sacrifice players just to get by and avoid punishment from the Premier League, but they must also be very shrewd in their business if Unai Emery is to strengthen his squad. Money can be spent a little more freely once the June 30 PSR deadline passes but the Villans’ pockets are by no means deep, not helped by the failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Despite the financial restrictions, Emery is keen to make new signings in several positions and is working closely with Monchi, the president of football operations, to make the best possible plans. One avenue, which was utilised lots when navigating PSR issues last summer, could be instigating swap deals with other teams in a similar boat.
Albeit not a loophole as such, teams found that ‘swapping’ players but completing any such deal in separate transactions was a clever workaround. Take Villa’s sale of Tim Iroegbunam to Everton as an example. The Villans let their academy product leave for Goodison Park for £9 million, while Toffees winger Lewis Dobbin moved in the other direction for £10 million.
Villa could adopt a similar approach in the coming weeks to land a transfer target at the same time as addressing their PSR problems. With that idea in mind, Birmingham World has been assessing potential ways of doing just that — and there’s a possible swap deal, albeit yet to be rumoured, that could work pretty well.
Aston Villa could instigate stunning £50m Brentford swap deal
Emery is eager to bolster the creativity amongst his squad this summer and Brentford playmaker Mikkel Damsgaard has emerged as a possible target this week. A report from Caught Offside suggests Damsgaard has been added to the Villans’ shortlist, though the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Napoli and Inter Milan are all monitoring his situation.
Damsgaard, predominantly an attacking midfielder but also utilised regularly in the right and left inverted winger positions, proved his worth as a creative genius last season as he provided 11 assists. The 24-year-old was very reliable, too, as he played all 38 Premier League matches, averaging 77 minutes per game. Damsgaard also scored the odd goal here and there, netting three in total across all competitions.
Marco Asensio was signed on loan for the final six months of last season to inject some creativity and vision in between the lines and he could still sign permanently from Paris Saint-Germain, Birmingham World understands. That doesn’t mean Villa won’t sign a second playmaker, however, with Damsgaard very much fitting the profile of player Emery would like to bring in.
Now, that all sounds glorious but as well as know, Villa’s financial situation doesn’t allow for a straight purchase of a player as capable as Damsgaard, who could perhaps cost in excess of £40 million. Why not include a player to sweeten the deal, then? Well, Leon Bailey, worth around £25 million, is someone
