FA investigating Aston Villa transfers

The English FA has confirmed it is investigating transfer dealings involving Aston Villa, although the governing body revealed that it would be a “significant period of time” before any conclusions were announced.

The announcement was made after the club confirmed earlier today that they have handed over details relating to their former manager John Gregory’s transfer transactions during his spell in charge of the Midlands club.

Villa released the files after a request from the FA’s Compliance Unit. They involve some of current Derby boss Gregory’s foreign signings in Bosko Balaban, Ozalan Alpay and £9.5m (€14.9m) club record signing Juan Pablo Angel.

FA spokesman Adrian Bevington told the FA’s website, www.theFA.com: “We can confirm that the FA compliance unit is conducting an investigation into a number of transfers involving Aston Villa Football Club.

“This investigation has been ongoing for several months and we expect it will be a significant period of time before the FA reaches any conclusion.

“At this time, we believe it would be inappropriate to provide further details of any individuals or particular cases being investigated.

“However, we would like to make clear that Aston Villa Football Club has been extremely co-operative since the investigation commenced.”

The FA were unable to confirm Villa’s assertion that other clubs had also been asked to hand information over as part of an overall investigation into transfer dealings.

The FA’s compliance unit was set up four years ago to investigate off-pitch disciplinary matters, especially those relating to allegations of financial impropriety by clubs or individuals within the game.

And despite recent reports to the contrary, the FA yesterday insisted that they are “committed to maintaining its vital role”.

Indeed, over the past 18 months, the FA have increased their surveillance of transfer dealings by setting themselves up as a clearing house for international transfers.

This means that buying clubs must now pay their agreed transfer fees through the FA, who then pass the money onto the recognised bank account of the selling clubs – ensuring there is now far less room for any pay-offs or fraud to take place.