Aston Villa and Chelsea strike £56.5m agreements in clever bid to dodge punishments

Aston Villa and Chelsea have agreed another deal that will ease stress for both teams when it comes to Profit and Sustainability rules. Both clubs spent big last summer and are now scrambling to meet the accounts deadline, which is on Sunday, June 30.

Ahead of the deadline, both Villa and Chelsea have spent money, which seems counterintuitive, but they have actually helped each other by doing so. Villa agreed a £37.5million fee to sign Ian Maatsen from Chelsea, The 22-year-old is an academy product of the Blues’ having joined from PSV as a youngster, going on to make 12 league appearances.

In return - albeit in a separate deal, officially speaking - Omari Kellyman has joined Chelsea from Villa on a reported fee of £19million. The 18-year-old made two league appearances for Villa but will now move on to Stamford Bridge.

With both clubs exchanging close to £50million between them, it doesn’t look as though either are making progress on the Profit and Sustainability front, but the clubs are indeed helping each other out as they both bid to meet Sunday’s deadline and avoid significant fines and/or punishments, which could include a points deduction, as Nottingham Forest and Everton have found out recently.

As explained by The Athletic, the fact that homegrown talent is being sold by each club means both can account for the transfer fees as pure profit, which helps cancel out some of the money spent, bringing down their respective losses.

As for Villa’s signing of Maatsen, they are getting a pretty experienced player at 22 years of age, given he has already spent plenty of time out on loan during his time at Chelsea. That included a loan spell with Borussia Dortmund in the second half of last season that saw him reach and start to the Champions League final.

“The coach, the board, gave me a lot of confidence because they really wanted me,” Maatsen told The Guardian of his loan spell in Germany. “They put trust in me and I put trust in them. I think that’s why it went so well.

“I had trust at Chelsea but with the pressure they are under it is sometimes difficult for a manager to let everyone play – especially young talents with potential. He has to make decisions for the team. You have to deal with it as a young player. Sometimes it’s not fair but maybe it’s the best decision for the club and other teammates. I appreciate that. But I want to play football.”

He added: “That (loan move) was the best solution for me. It was a big club where young players can develop. They have had players like Bellingham, Hakimi, Dembélé. I am happy to be here. At Chelsea I trained at a high intensity. I kept believing that when my chance came I would take it. You want to play every game. It was just being patient. Don’t let your standards drop because if you do then you put yourself in a position where the coach says: ‘Maybe that is the reason why he doesn’t play.’”