Keith Wyness: Aston Villa will have funds to spend this summer

The chief executive has moved to assure supporters Villa will be able to afford the “three or four” players desired by manager Steve Bruce and remain within the boundaries permitted by Financial Fair Play regulations.

A projected budget had placed the club marginally over the limits allowed by the Football League but Wyness does not fear any sanction, with an exodus of big money flops helping to balance the books.

A deal for midfielder Carlos Sanchez to move to Fiorentina for a fee of £2.5million has already been agreed, while there is also strong interest in the likes of Carles Gil and Jordan Veretout.

Jordan Amavi, Tommy Elphick, Micah Richards, Aaron Tshibola, Aly Cissokho, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ross McCormack are among the other players who could leave in order to free up funds which can then be partially spent on Bruce's targets.

“There is a lot of tidying up (to do),” said Wyness. “We have 64 players under professional contract, which is way too many.

“That is a legacy we have from last year, to a great degree. We have got to cut back. I would think there could be up to ten players going out this summer.”

Under FFP rules, Villa are permitted total losses of £83million over the course of the past three seasons. Last year saw a net spend of close to £50million on players following Tony Xia’s takeover but Wyness insists the figures are manageable.

“We can plan for the financial side. That is not an issue for us, it can be handled,” he said. “We will need to address it but we’re not anywhere near sanctions at all. They ask you to put in your budget for the season and the budget we put in showed we would have breached it (FFP).

“But that’s before any players transactions and commercial transactions.

“It’s something we’re aware of. We are planning for it and we are aware of it.

“It’s not like ‘where did that come from?’.”

Villa finished 13th in their first season following relegation from the Premier League and a sustained promotion challenge will be the minimum requirement next term.

Bruce brought in seven new players during the January window. Wyness insists the manager is satisfied with his summer budget and has not had to alter any plans.

“Steve has only asked for three or four players,” said Wyness. “The first question from us was: ‘who do you want’.

“He said: ‘These are the three of four targets I want, the positions and the players we are looking at within them’.

“Our response was ‘fine, we can do that'. We can do that from the disposal of other players.”