Revealed: How Douglas Luiz's £42m transfer to Juventus saved Aston Villa from catastrophic 10-point deduction 'at the last second'

Unai Emery's Aston Villa were under pressure to comply with the Premier League's PSR rules at the end of last season, meaning they had to sanction the sale of star midfielder Luiz. Had the £42m ($55m) deal for the Brazilian not happened, they would have been deducted up to 10 points for the 2024-25 campaign, according to The Daily Mail.

Damian Vidagany, Villa's director of football operations, explained that profit had to be made before the June 30 deadline. He said: "We found ourselves in a situation where we had to make an important profit to avoid being in breach with the PSR. Everybody was cheering and celebrating the Champions League, but Monchi (Villa's sporting director) and I were at the party thinking how we could avoid a points deduction that would have spoiled a wonderful season. There was a bomb with the countdown, and we were there to cut the cable. We arrived at the last second with this problem."

Monchi added: "If we sold Ramsey, it would be solved. And we could have because we had offers. Another solution was to put Ollie Watkins on the market. We could have sold the best keeper in the world, Emi Martinez. We also had offers for him."

Both Vidagany and Monchi admitted they did not want to sell players who were key parts of Emery's plans, but there may not have been an alternative. However, with Villa safely on the right side of the PSR rules now, they have been able to kick on and continue strengthening Emery's squad for their return to the Champions League.

Villa's incredible 2023-24 campaign has carried over into the new term so far. They have six points from the first three games, only losing to Arsenal. When the players return from the international break, they will take on Everton in the Midlands.