Ollie Watkins Situation Causes Bad Blood and Woe
Aston Villa’s season could hardly have started worse. Beaten 4-0 by Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium, four goals down by half-time, and unable to register a single shot on target all game. Despite Brighton not being in ideal shape going into the game, due to injuries and outgoings, one look at Villa’s teamsheet and the absence of a striker begged the question of the club’s preparation for the season.
The Premier League is marketed as the best in the world, and is certainly the richest, yet here we are with one of its Champions League qualifying clubs not able to field a striker when the season starts.
Watkins’ Movements
Throughout the week, MOMS had received various tip-offs of the Ollie Watkins variety. He was spotted at Birmingham Airport on Monday; it’s understood he hasn’t been training during the week, and his locker has been cleared. It was no surprise not to see him on the teamsheet against Brighton, but journalists covering the Villa beat were being told no deal with Al Hilal had been completed yet.
When quizzed by the press after the game, Emery refused to clarify the situation outright, but more than implied what the reality was.
“This question is for him. I can answer only with my silence,” Emery said.
When asked whether Watkins had refused to play, he added: “I think you call his agent and he can respond. He can only explain his answer, I can’t.”
Villa fans will remember when James Milner was in a similar predicament at the start of the 2010/11 season. Manchester City had courted him for months, with Villa rejecting their offers, and he was on the verge of a move as the season began. Still, he was professional enough to play for Villa in their season opener against West Ham United and even score in a 3-0 win. That came just five days after Martin O’Neill resigned and walked out of the club.
Emery has obviously experienced the awkwardness of players wanting to move on before, and has always remained classy in such situations, even in frustrating cases like Jhon Durán and Emiliano Martínez. That makes his post-match tone all the more telling: he’s clearly far from happy with how Watkins has handled this.
Villa are not happy that such a transfer has ignited at the back end of the transfer window, and have already rejected four bids from Al Hilal for Watkins, the latest being reportedly around £45m. Watkins is understood to have agreed personal terms and wants to go.
Undercooked Super Cup
Watkins being left out of the Super Cup final, along with want-away players Ezri Konsa and Martínez, despite being on the registered squad list, was a huge clue that Watkins wasn’t going to kick a ball again for Villa. After all, with only two weeks of pre-season to go, why sacrifice a week of that and leave players with no pre-season minutes when the season starts? It would be potentially heavily compromising the team’s early results.
Bad luck with injuries and the impact of the World Cup are all mitigating circumstances, but why have Villa left themselves so undercooked at the season’s start? Konsa wanting to go to Arsenal was no surprise for weeks, so why wasn’t a centre-back already locked in before that deal was done, as the club did with Johan Manzambi when Morgan Rogers was sold.
The same can now be said of Watkins, as Villa are in a late scramble to get an accomplished striker that will be key to the ceiling of their ambition in a Champions League season.
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