PSR & UEFA Wage-Ratio Debate: How Alex Moreno’s Injury Complicated Aston Villa’s Transfers
You know the summer transfer drill for most Aston Villa supporters in recent transfer windows – when’s a new right back coming in? It’s seems to be a historical problem, when you consider the time it took for Martin O’Neill to finally buy Luke Young and stop playing clunky centre-backs in the position.
When left-back Alex Moreno joined Villa, he proved to be very much one of the first catalysts of the Unai Emery revolution. Coming in January of the 2022/23 season, he provided impetus that revived Villa’s left-hand side, linking up well with the likes of Emi Buendia and Jacob Ramsey to help fire Villa into Europe. The natural thought process was that Emery and Monchi would perhaps procure a similar profile of attacking right-back from La Liga too.
Moreno, who recently returned to Spain, signing for Girona, was likeable character and was very much sharing the left-back position with Lucas Digne, but it was a hamstring injury he suffered against Liverpool in May 2023, that sidelined him for several months and ultimately impacted his time at Villa. The injury had unfortunately seemingly cost him the top end of his pace.
The Reason Behind Signing Ian Maatsen
As mentioned on the My Old Man Said podcast many months ago, this was confirmed to MOMS during a Fan Advisory Board meeting. MOMS had asked the footballing department why Villa had prioritised Ian Maatsen in the last summer transfer window, when the right-back position seemed the more pressing concern. The answer was distinct, saying they’d have had major issues in the Champions League if Lucas Digne got injured, due to the fall off in Moreno’s speed.
When you zoom out further, Moreno’s injury didn’t exactly help Villa’s PSR position or the UEFA wage-ratio situation, with Villa going in for Maatsen in a deal reported to be worth £37.5m, and then Digne having a solid season and playing most of the Champions League anyway.
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Rolling the Dice
Mid-term, Maatsen will transition over the next season or so, to be the starting left-back, with Digne currently 32. So, there’s no issue with the signing in isolation, but it’s still open to debate whether spending such money on a young left-back was a savvy move in the context of PSR and UEFA wage-ratio, when the immediate needs were in other areas and the lack of transfer wiggle room it provided Villa. Although, dropping £50m on Amadou Onana is also debatable in that context.
While we’re speaking in hindsight, if you were privy to the club’s financial position in terms of the PSR and UEFA wage ratio rules at the time, you’d have the same reservations. That said, when speaking to the club’s football department in terms of their reasons behind both Maatsen and Onana, it was clear the club were speaking from a position of desiring to be ambitious with their efforts to go deep into the Champions League.
Rolling the dice on the loan wages of Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford was also evidence of that. Despite the compromises the club currently faces in the transfer market, the fact is Villa attempted to have a real go in the Champions League.
Ultimately, they were in it, to win in. And in terms of the club’s ambition, that was encouraging to see.
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