Betting on the Champions League failed: How did Aston Villa swallow a 100 million euro deficit?

I was thinking about Aston Villa's experience recently, and I always felt indescribable. If God can give Villa a chance to do it again, I think they will choose to play against Manchester United at the end of the season to win a draw. Just one point ultimately determined that their Champions League dream was broken and pushed the club to a rather awkward situation. To be honest, under Emery's training, I saw hope. They once advanced to the third line, and the league was in the Champions League, and the Champions League reached the quarterfinals, and the FA Cup reached the semi-finals. This is definitely a huge improvement for a team that was struggling in the Championship a few years ago. They even scared Paris Saint-Germain in a cold sweat in the Champions League knockout. But competitive sports are like this, a slight difference can lead to a huge mistake. In the end, they ranked sixth in the league, stopped in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and were eliminated in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. All their efforts made everything different because of that "little".

What's the problem? The answer is simple, but heavy: money. I understand that Villa is now facing an after-tax deficit of more than 100 million euros. This number is a heavy burden in the face of the Premier League's fiscal fairness bill. Originally, the club bet on the Champions League qualification. Once you enter the Champions League, the high prize money and ticket revenue will be enough to fill most of the losses. But now, they can only play in the Europa League, and that little income is dropping the bucket.

I remember that Villa was quite aggressive in the transfer window in January this year. They introduced names such as Mullen, Garcia, Rashford, Asensio and DiSassi, all of which are key signings to hope to reach the Champions League. Although the sale of Duran and Philokin brought them more than 100 million in revenue, it was just a drop in the bucket and was not enough to offset the huge investment accumulated in the past few years to build Villa from a "lift" into a European team.

Now, the reality facing the club is that they have to start selling people in order to comply with the Premier League's financial sustainability regulations. I heard that goalkeepers like Martinez, the Big One, may become the first players to cash out. What is even more sad is that new players such as Rashford and Asensio, who have only been here for half a year, may be on the sales list even if they perform well. This means that the framework established by Vera in the past few years is likely to face a large-scale dismantling.

This has to regret Villa's fans. They saw the team's strong rise and the hope of confronting the giants. But now, in order to survive, the team may need to go through several transition seasons, lowering their goals. One point, just one point, may end the efforts of Watkins and his teammates in a helpless way. This is a kind of "if" in the football world.