Aston Villa’s summer has become even more complex after Amadou Onana suffered a long-term injury at the World Cup.The 24-year-old sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear during Belgium’s 4-1 last-16 victory against the USMNT and will miss a significant chunk of Villa’s season. The absence of a key central midfielder and the club’s record signing will have wide-ranging consequences for Unai Emery’s side and, broadly, alter what Villa can do in the transfer market.Previously, the Europa League winners have spoken internally about their frustrations at complying with financial regulations while dealing with long-term injuries. Regrettably, it is something they have grown accustomed to. Recent years of brushes with financial regulations have coincided with several long-term absentees, including Boubacar Kamara, Tyrone Mings and Emiliano Buendia. Villa have had to pay those players’ salaries, which has not eased the pressure on the club when it comes to adhering to UEFA’s Squad Cost Rules (SCR), while having to sign a replacement.This is opposed to what they want to do and have intended to do this summer. For example, Villa are open to selling one of their left-backs this summer, either Ian Maatsen or Lucas Digne, as their combined wages are too high to justify for one position, especially for a club recently fined again for not meeting UEFA’s SCR threshold. That dictates they must not spend over 70 per cent of their turnover on football-related salaries.Villa are now staring at a similar situation with Onana. Granted, they will receive benefits from FIFA’s Club Protection Programme (CPP) because Onana sustained the injury playing in one of football’s governing bodies’ competitions, but that is capped at £6.6million ($8.8m) per year.Romelu Lukaku holds up his stricken team-mates’ No 24 Belgium shirt (David Ramos/Getty Images)This summer was always going to be incredibly difficult, but Onana’s injury has made it harder still.The Athletic has reported that, to comply with UEFA’s Settlement Agreement — ensuring losses below €60m (£51.3m; $68.6m) over three years — Villa essentially have to sell to balance their spending. In simple terms, they will be assessed for the period running from the 2024-25 to the 2026-27 seasons. Considering the losses of the previous two years, they effectively need to make a solid profit in the 2026-27 campaign to ensure losses are below the UEFA threshold. This means Villa have to sell — and sell well. Once they had done this, they would move to recruit their bigger summer signings, with a priority being a right-winger — West Ham United’s Jarrod Bowen and Paris Saint-Germain’s Ibrahim Mbaye were among the targets — plus another attacker.