Former Leeds United defender Danny Mills has warned Aston Villa of the dangers of dropping out of the Premier League.

Dean Smith's side could see their relegation confirmed tonight with Watford hosting Manchester City before Villa play Arsenal.

Villa returned to the Premier League last season after three seasons away from the top flight and had to embark on a major overhaul of the squad with loan players returning to their parent clubs and others departing on free transfers.

With Villa spending around £130m last summer, they committed a lot of money in their quest to stay in the top flight.


Mills thinks Villa should be worried that some of the players who were bought following the play-off final defeat of Derby County will be lured back into the Premier League at a cost to Villa.

And he has used Newcastle United and old side Leeds as examples as to what could happen if relegation is confirmed.

"It's not just about the transfer fees," Mills is quoted as saying on Sky Sports by HITC Sport.

"It's the sheer size of wages in the Premier League and Villa had a huge wage bill when they were in the Championship. That's not got smaller now that they are in the Premier League.

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"Now, if you drop out of that, financially, the owner has to dip into his pocket.

"Newcastle were able to do that because nobody was prepared to pay for their players because they were on such big wages. Of course, they bounced back immediately, which we know is so, so difficult.

"You do have to fear (for Villa) because those players who were worth £20m at the start of the season.

"If you get relegated then other Premier League clubs will go 'we know you are a little bit desperate and you want to get these players off the wage bill and we’ll give you £10 million'.

"And then you go find yourself in all sorts of dire trouble like Sunderland have done.

"Like Leeds have done in the past. Like Southampton when they fell through the divisions.

"So, you have to be very, very careful if you drop out of the Premier League. If you have overspent, and spent big to get there and failed, it can go wrong, financially, very, very quickly."