Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce must sell to fund new signings

The manager may seek to further utilise the loan market, after the impact of the club’s failure to make an instant return to the Premier League became clear.

Villa’s had a net spend of close to £50million on players in the two transfer windows following Tony Xia’s takeover 12 months ago but that now means they must cut their cloth accordingly to avoid serious sanctions in the future.

Current FFP rules permit Villa to have combined losses of £83million over the past three seasons, yet their most recent accounts showed a deficit of £81million for the 2015/16 campaign alone.

Reports yesterday claimed Bruce has now been told he must offload players before bringing any more in and – later responding on Twitter – Xia admitted the club needed to find a ‘smarter’ way of operating in the market.

He wrote: “We need well prepared for the FFP as we inherited heavy burdens. If we get more ins but can’t succeed in outs, we’ll have headache with FFP.

“Even not bothered by FFP issues, we won’t burn money 2 try getting success. We need (to) build sustainable model and have 2 learn 2 be smarter anyway.”

Bruce had made no secret of the fact his first task during the close season would be moving out a host of expensive stars who spent the year away on loan.

Carlos Sanchez is already set to complete a £2.5million move to Fiorentina, while Carles Gil and Jordan Veretout have also indicated their desire to depart on permanent deals. Defender Tommy Elphick – the first signing of Bruce’s predecessor Roberto Di Matteo – could now be among several other players the club seek to sell in order to generate funds.

The manager’s initial summer targets include several players currently plying their trade in the Premier League, though attaining these will now depend on how successfully Villa can move on those deemed surplus to requirements.

“You only get this summer. The one thing I won’t do is buy players just for the sake of it,” said Bruce earlier this month.

“We have to buy players who can improve us and improve the team and have the mentality to go with it.

“That is a hard job because the ones I am pitching at are Premier League players. They are expensive and earn big money. It’s a difficult one but one I am looking forward to.”