Aston Villa were forced to hand over £10m to former owner Randy Lerner in 2022 in a bizarre legacy deal agreed by ex-chairman Tony Xia.
Xia, who purchased the club with his company Recon Group from Lerner in 2016, promised the sum to Lerner if the Birmingham club were able to stay in the Premier League for three consecutive seasons following their 2019 promotion.
Lerner previously received an enormous £30m payout when Villa were promoted that year, three years after handing over to Xia.
Despite Xia selling his majority stake in the club to its current owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, in 2018, Villa remained beholden to the liability.