Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce admits to facing big decisions in the transfer market as FFP bites

The club’s transfer dealings during the current window have to a large extent been governed by their need to remain on the right side Financial Fair Play regulations.

Bruce does not want a scenario where he has to sell one of his best players but conceded he might be left with a big decision to make, should the club receive an offer which would help them avoid sanctions at a later date.

Last week’s sale of defender Nathan Baker to Bristol City was in part down to the collapse of Jordan Amavi’s proposed £8million move to Sevilla.

Bruce said: “I might have to sell somebody I don’t want to sell. I don’t think that will be the case because nobody wants to sell their best players.

“But Baker came out of the blue. And when we looked at it we thought that it made decent business sense.

“We let the kid go because we couldn’t offer him the (game-time) and of course that chips away at FFP and makes a little dent that we need.”

He continued: “I am going to have to make some big decisions if they come our way, to balance the books.

“We spent an awful lot of money last summer. An awful lot of money the summer before. The club can’t keep haemorrhaging more and more money.”

Asked if any of his players were considered not for sale, he said: “As we’ve just seen, if Neymar’s buyable then everyone’s buyable. There are certain ones where you wouldn’t want to do it, we’ve all got our favourites.

“It would take a colossal sum for some rather than others. That’s where we are.”

This week’s departure of Aly Cissokho to Turkish club Yeni Malatyaspor means Villa have to date this summer made a profit of around £10million in transfer fees.

They could receive a further boost should Ross McCormack complete a loan move to Sunderland. The Mackems were hopeful of finalising a deal for the striker on Friday, with Villa due to a receive a healthy loan fee.

Yet Bruce must still tread carefully and admits he is not in a position where he can immediately replace Jack Grealish, who is facing several months out with kidney damage.

“It’s not just as easy as that,” he said. “We’re on the edge of FFP. What I’ve been able to do all summer is generate my own so I’ve been able to spend.

“The club has spent a lot of money over the last three years which has left us in this situation.

“We’ve got to adhere to the FFP. Ideally, we would love to say, cheque book open, we’re going to find someone.

“It’s the problem we’ve had all summer. We need to box a little bit clever because of FFP.

“We’ve got to restrict what we spend.”

Villa’s relatively reserved spending this summer is a far cry from 12 months ago, when Bruce’s predecessor Roberto Di Matteo spent around £40million revamping the squad.

Bruce admitted the restrictions he faces, while frustrating, have not come as a surprise.

“I don’t think you needed to be a rocket scientist to know the club had spent a lot of money so it was made pretty clear,” he said.

“That’s the way it is, it is not a problem to me. I wouldn’t say I am enjoying it, because it would have been nice to not have the restriction. But look I’ve been in the job seven, eight months and I am really enjoying it. Looking from afar things had spiralled out of control in a few years here.”