Shocking new Aston Villa revelation shows just what West Ham are up against

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A few years ago Aston Villa were using West Ham as the benchmark but nowadays it is very much the other way around.

There has been a rapid role reversal between West Ham and Aston Villa in recent times.

It wasn’t that long ago Unai Emery’s predecessor Steven Gerrard made the Hammers the blueprint for Aston Villa to follow.

Is it any wonder why?

West Ham finished sixth and seventh – missing out on Champions League football by a whisker – before crowning three consecutive seasons in Europe by winning the Europa Conference League.

Villa now the benchmark for West Ham after role reversal

In that time Aston Villa’s biggest achievement was celebrating avoiding relegation on the final day of the season with a draw against the Irons at the London Stadium.

Since then Aston Villa have gone from strength to strength while West Ham have failed to build on the position they had put themselves in as genuine top six challengers.

While Villa are yet to lift a trophy to go with their rise like the Hammers did, they have surpassed the east Londoners in terms of the Premier League and competing in the Champions League.

West Ham fans have been green with envy watching Aston Villa in Europe’s top competition – a feat which continues to elude the Hammers.

There was jealousy and applause from West Ham in equal measure when Aston Villa announced magnificent plans to revamp and increase capacity at Villa Park.

That is exactly what so many Hammers fans wanted their club to do with Upton Park.

That ship has long since sailed, though.

One promise made on leaving the Boleyn Ground was that the London Stadium would enable West Ham to compete with the top teams in the Premier League on and off the pitch.

That will not be the case this summer if West Ham’s claims about reaching their PSR limit prove true.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire poured doubt on West Ham’s PSR claims recently amid anger from Hammers fans.

But a shocking new Aston Villa revelation shows just what West Ham are up against.

Shock new Villa revelation shows what West Ham are up against

West Ham have braced supporters for a difficult summer window, despite the clear and obvious need for Graham Potter to oversee a major rebuild.

With the Hammers languishing in 17th, fans fear a failure to invest heavily and wisely could result in a relegation battle next season.

Especially with the promoted teams threatening to be a lot stronger.

The likes of Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta – if he beats spot-fixing charges – Edson Alvarez and a host of others are reportedly for sale.

Some reports suggest there are in fact only four West Ham players the club would not listen to offers for.

Hammers fans have been understandably furious, asking where all the money made from the £105m sale of Declan Rice and three seasons in Europe has gone.

Especially as West Ham only pay a small £4m rent fee for use of the London Stadium each season.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy recently told fans ‘they can’t spend what they haven’t got’ amid similar demands for Tottenham to spend big after a similarly disastrous Premier League campaign to West Ham.

Despite being the richest sports club anywhere on the planet in terms of owners, Newcastle have also been forced to sell top stars in recent seasons to satisfy PSR regulations.

Aston Villa’s own ambitious owners have previously threatened to sue the Premier League over PSR.

Now according to Mail Sport’s Midlands reporter Tom Collomosse, Villa must make at least one significant sale before June 30th to ensure they stay in line with Premier League spending rules.

West Ham’s PSR perspective as Villa must sell again despite raising £220m

That’s despite Villa having sold longstanding West Ham target Jhon Duran for £65m, Moussa Diaby for £55m, Douglas Luiz for £45m, Jaden Philogene for £20m, Cameron Archer for £15m, Diego Carlos for £10m and Tim Iroegbunam for £10m in the past year alone.

Not to mention the fact Villa have increased revenue due to being in the inaugural bumper expanded Champions League, where they made the quarter-finals.

West Ham fans who have been incredulous at learning they must sell to buy only need to look at the situation unfolding at Villa to see why that’s the case.

Many Villa fans share the frustration of their owners who feel it makes it impossible to compete.

Who Villa will offload to satisfy PSR remains to be seen.

But the fact the Midlands club still need to make a sale after raising around £220m in outgoings in the last year will, unfortunately, give West Ham supporters some perspective of their own situation.