Ollie Watkins' Future at Aston Villa: Summer Uncertainty
Ollie Watkins stands at the centre of Aston Villa’s summer of upheaval, with Unai Emery unable to promise his star striker will still be at the club when the window shuts.
The England international is being chased hard by Al-Hilal, and Emery has confirmed that concrete bids have already landed on Villa’s desk. He wants Watkins to stay. He also knows that might not be how this story ends.
Villa’s core ripped apart
Villa have already cashed in on key pieces of Emery’s Europa League-winning side. Ezri Konsa is heading to Arsenal in a £51m deal. Morgan Rogers has gone to Chelsea for a record £117m fee. Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne have also departed in a sweeping overhaul of the dressing room.
Watkins, though, is different. He is the reference point of Emery’s attack, the man who has carried Villa’s goalscoring burden since 2020. The 30-year-old has hit 108 goals for the club since arriving from Brentford for £28m, making him Villa’s all-time leading scorer in the Premier League era.
Emery was blunt about the situation.
“We have an issue with him, it's clear. He is our player. We have had offers for him,” he said. “I don't want to sell him but it can change because if it's a good option for him and the club and I can replace him in the squad, this is the routine we have and we did before with the players who are leaving.”
That is the reality at Villa Park this summer. Nobody is entirely off the table.
Ten days of tension
The clock adds extra pressure. The window has around 10 days left to run and Emery knows everything can shift quickly.
“With Ollie, he is here, for me he is a fantastic striker, we have always believed in him,” he said. “Now he is our player, there are 10 days more or less to finish the transfer window, we will see what happens, I'm happy with him, if he is staying with us he will continue playing his level.
If he leaving it's because it is good for three ways, one is him, another is the club and another is the team.”
If Watkins goes, and Emi Martinez follows him out of the door, Villa will have sold six members of the starting XI that lifted the Europa League just two months ago. That is not a tweak. That is a tear-down.
Martinez, Juventus and Suzuki
For Martinez, the path out has already twisted once. A move to Juventus collapsed after the clubs failed to agree a fee, even as the World Cup winner explored the idea of a fresh challenge.
Villa have moved anyway. Japan international Zion Suzuki has arrived from Parma in a £30m deal to become the club’s new No.1.
Emery made it clear Suzuki is not a long-term project to be eased in gently.
“We have two excellent goalkeepers, of course we signed Suzuki not for the future but for now,” he said. “He showed his capacity to get his performance to our level. He will need to adapt to us but he is playing at this level.”
Martinez, who has only had one training session since returning from a post-World Cup break, will not be in the squad for Sunday’s Premier League opener at Brighton. His future, like Watkins’, hangs in the air.
“Martinez transmitted to us the possibility to have another challenge in his career,” Emery explained. “Even last year, he was thinking in case he can have one possibility to change for his challenges. He didn't do it last year and he performed fantastic with us. This year, again, he transmitted us the possibility to have another challenge and we decided to sign Suzuki because I think he's a fantastic goalkeeper.”
So Villa head into the new campaign with their European title still fresh, their squad reshaped, and their talismanic striker and goalkeeper both on the brink. The question now is simple: how much more of this team can be sold before the project itself is put at risk?
