Unai Emery Addresses Watkins Transfer Issue as Al-Hilal Circles

Unai Emery has lit up the final days of the transfer window with a blunt admission: Aston Villa have received formal offers for Ollie Watkins, and his future is no longer guaranteed.

The England striker, the spearhead of Villa’s recent Europa League triumph with five goals and two assists, is now a major target for Saudi Pro League giants Al-Hilal. For a fanbase already reeling from a summer of high-profile exits, the timing could hardly be worse.

“We have an issue with him, it’s clear. He is our player. We have had offers for him, 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,” Emery told reporters when pressed on the 30-year-old’s situation.

That “routine” has been ruthless. And expensive.

Villa’s core ripped apart

Watkins walking out would not just be another sale; it would be another pillar gone from a team that lifted a European trophy barely two months ago.

• Ezri Konsa has already gone to Arsenal in a £51 million deal.
• Morgan Rogers has joined Chelsea for a British record £117 million fee.
• Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne have also departed in the same window.

One by one, the names that built Villa’s resurgence are being stripped away.

Watkins has been the constant through that rise. Since arriving from Brentford in 2020, he has scored 108 goals in claret and blue, a relentless output that turned him into both a domestic force and a European match-winner.

Emery knows exactly what is at stake.

“With Ollie, he is here, for me he is a fantastic striker, we have always believed in him. 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,” he said.

The message is clear: nobody is untouchable, not if the numbers line up and a replacement can be found.

Martinez future in doubt as Suzuki arrives

The uncertainty does not stop at centre-forward. It stretches all the way back to the man who lifted the World Cup in Qatar.

Emi Martinez, the 2022 World Cup winner and one of the emotional leaders of this Villa side, is also weighing up his next move. A switch to Juventus collapsed over the fee, but the door on a transfer has not been slammed shut. Inside the club, they are treating him as a potential departure, not a guaranteed constant.

The proof is already in the building. Villa have paid £30 million to bring in Japan international Zion Suzuki from Parma, and Emery made it plain that this is no long-term stash-and-develop signing.

“We have two excellent goalkeepers, of course we signed Suzuki not for the future but for now. 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 transmitted to us the possibility to have another challenge in his career. Even last year, he was thinking in case he can have one possibility to change for his challenges,” Emery explained.

This is not a sudden twist. It is the continuation of a conversation that has been running behind the scenes.

“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,” Emery added.

So Villa now stand with two No 1-level goalkeepers, one eye on the present and the other on a possible late bid that could rip out yet another leader.

A Europa League XI dismantled

Strip away the emotion and the numbers are stark. If both Watkins and Martinez leave before the deadline, Villa will have sold more than half of the starting XI that delivered the Europa League title.

That is not a refresh. That is a teardown.

The pressure on the recruitment department is enormous. They have already banked huge fees and moved quickly for Suzuki, but finding a striker who can replace Watkins’ goals and influence, while potentially sourcing a new first-choice goalkeeper, in the final days of the window is a brutal assignment.

And the Premier League will not wait.

Villa open their campaign away at Brighton on Sunday, stepping into a new season with a squad in flux, a spine under threat and their manager trying to keep ambition alive while the vultures circle.

If the exits keep coming, how long can this version of Aston Villa survive before it becomes something entirely different?