Aston Villa given approval by Premier League to go ahead with sale of Villa Park

Aston Villa's sale of Villa Park to a company controlled by their owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens has finally been approved by the Premier League, but the club face another challenge to comply with profit and sustainability rules this season after announcing a £69million loss for 2018-19 on Wednesday.

Following a nine-month investigation which included several independent valuations Premier League officials have declared themselves comfortable with the £56.7million Villa received for their ground from NSWE Stadium Limited last May in a deal which enabled them to comply with the EFL's spending regulations.

The importance of that controversial property deal is laid bare in the accounts lodged with Companies House on Wednesday, as without it their losses for a single season would have topped £100m.

The 2018-19 accounts for Villa's holding company, Recon Group UK Limited, record a profit of £36m on the sale of the stadium as some of the proceeds were used to pay a debt owed to former owner Randy Lerner, so without it their losses would have been £105m.

EFL rules prevent clubs losing more than £39m over a three-year period, although investment in infrastructure and youth spending is discounted, which along with a combination of the stadium sale and their Premier League television income enabled Villa to comply.

The club may still face some problems and difficult decisions to ensure they do not breach the Premier League's spending limits for this season however, as the stadium valuation is only one part of the submission and their accounts for this campaign will be scrutinised at the end of the season.

The Premier League's limits are less stringent than the EFL's - permitting clubs to lose an average of £35m as opposed to £13m over a three-year period - so Villa must not exceed a loss of £61m over the last three seasons.

Relegation to the Championship would almost certainly necessitate player sales, although the club are not short of assets, with Jack Grealish a long-term target for Manchester United and John McGinn and Tyrone Mings also widely admired.

Villa's accounts also reveal that the club lost an eye-watering figure of £450m for the period 2010 to 2019 despite spending seven years in the Premier League.