Wyness shares Aston Villa academy plea with ‘six-point penalties flying around’

Former Aston Villa chief executive Keith Wyness believes Aston Villa need to utilise their academy more to help comply with Premier League financial rules.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – said it is “very disappointing” that Villa are not using their academy more.

Villa could experience a quiet summer transfer window after suffering huge losses across 2023.

According to a Uefa financial report, they made losses of £138million last year which puts the club close to the limit of Premier League regulations.

Wyness has previously told Football Insider that Villa are gearing up for a summer firesale to help balance their finances.

As reported by The Athletic, Villa invested in an £8million ‘inner-city’ academy in 2023 to help the club attract young talent around Birmingham.

Aston Villa must justify academy investment – “It’s very disappointing”

Wyness believes now is the time for Villa to show that their academy investment has been worth it.

“We’ve all seen in recent weeks the success Liverpool have had with their younger stars coming through from the academy system.

“There is still a great wealth of talent in many academies and yes it has to be utilised more.

“Clubs have invested great deals on academies and it’s time for that really to have the pressure on it to see those players come through.

“The financial rules could mean that there are going to be six-point penalties flying around so the academy’s definitely got to show that the investment is going to be worth it.“