Aston Villa have revealed they narrowly avoided a 10-point Premier League penalty by selling Douglas Luiz to Juventus at “the last second”. The midfielder joined the Serie A giants in a £42million switch in the final moments before June 30 ticked into July 1.
Midnight on June 30 was viewed as a second transfer deadline day for clubs hoping to avoid breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR). June 30, 2024, was considered the final day of the 2023-24 season and the last occasion on which clubs could claim money for that campaign.
English top-flight teams are permitted to lose a maximum of £105m over a three-year period, with Villa among the clubs risking breaching that limit for the time up to the end of the 2023-24 season. They needed to sell a player before the end of the campaign to avoid a punishment and Luiz eventually left for Juve.
“At the end of the season, we found ourselves in a situation where we had to sell players for profit to avoid being in breach with PSR,” director of football operations Damian Vidagany said.
“From May 20 to June 30 is normally a holiday period in football. It wasn’t for us. We had to find a solution to a past problem.
“PSR is a three-year cycle. You can lose £105m but there was more relaxed pressure over the past couple of years because of that one big shot we had with Jack Grealish’s sale.
“Once that was over, there was a moment when everyone was cheering and celebrating the Champions League. Monchi and I were thinking about how to not spoil this beautiful year by having a points deduction.
“There was a bomb with the countdown and we were there to cut the cable. We sorted it out at the last second.”
A remarkable season saw Unai Emery’s side secure Champions League qualification with a fourth-placed finish. But at least one star of that team had to be sold to ensure Villa’s losses for the three previous years did not exceed £105m.
“We couldn’t take out one of Unai’s most important players next season,” Vidagany said. “That was the challenge. Our responsibility was to solve the problem and build the best team possible for next season.”
President of football operations Monchi added: “We could not compromise any success this season. So, do we sell (Ezri) Konsa? Or (Leon) Bailey? Or Luiz?”
Vidagany continued: “Myself and Monchi travelled to Italy in the last week of May and got a pre-agreement. The final signing happened on June 30. It was a roller-coaster.
“It was one month after shaking hands with Cristiano Guintoli (Juventus’ sporting director) that the final signing was done.”
He concluded: “So it went to the last day. It was up and down. If one of the domino pieces fell, we wouldn’t have completed it. That’s why it was so difficult.”
