Unai Emery Admits Aston Villa Have an “Issue” Over Ollie Watkins as Emiliano Martinez Also Eyes Exit

Unai Emery did not try to dress it up. Asked about Ollie Watkins’ future two days before Aston Villa host Brighton, the Spaniard gave the kind of answer that tells its own story. “We have an issue with him, it is clear,” he told Sky Sports in his pre-match press conference. Ten days remain in the transfer window, and Villa’s manager suddenly has two of his most important players wondering about life somewhere else.

Watkins is wanted by Al Hilal. Emiliano Martinez has told Emery he fancies a fresh challenge. Neither situation is resolved, and Emery’s press conference made clear that Villa are bracing for the possibility of losing both a talisman striker and their longtime No. 1 before September 1, on top of a summer that has already reshaped large parts of his squad.

Al Hilal’s Pursuit of Watkins

Al Hilal have had at least one bid rejected for Watkins, an opening offer in the region of €45m (£38.5m) that Villa waved away without much debate. Sky Sports News reports the Saudi Pro League club remain in talks and are working to find a solution, with Watkins himself keen on the move.

The interest is tied directly to Al Hilal’s situation up front. Karim Benzema joined the club from Al Ittihad in February on an 18-month deal and scored 10 goals in 15 appearances in his first half-season in Riyadh, but his future in Saudi Arabia is now uncertain. Al Hilal are working on a way to resolve his contract and let him leave, with Watkins earmarked as the man to replace him. It gives the pursuit a concrete shape rather than the vague, exploratory kind of approach that usually gets waved off inside a fortnight of the window closing.

Villa do not want to sell. Emery repeated that more than once. Villa also need to sign a replacement first, and that requirement is understood to be a factor in whether the club lets the move happen. Watkins has scored more than 100 goals for Villa after joining from Brentford in 2020, and last season alone he contributed 16 Premier League goals as the club won the Europa League and secured another season of Champions League football. A forward with that kind of output, at 30, still carries serious value on a market where Saudi buyers rarely walk away quietly once personal terms are on the table.

Emery’s Message on Watkins

Emery’s language stopped short of ruling anything out. “We had offers for him but he is our player. I don’t want to sell him but it can change if it is a good option for him, the club and I can replace him in the squad,” he said.

He followed it with a reminder of what Watkins has meant to the club. “He is here and is a fantastic striker. We have always believed and supported him, he did it.” Then came the line that captured where Villa actually stand with ten days left on the clock: “There is 10 days to finish the transfer window, we will see. He is our player and I am happy with him.”

Asked directly whether Watkins had requested to leave, Emery gave an answer that read as deflection more than denial. “I don’t know, maybe you have more information than us! Football is changing,” he said, before adding: “The players are professional and Watkins is our player.”

Watkins was part of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad at the 2026 World Cup this summer, and his stock has only risen following Villa’s Europa League run. That extended World Cup break has left him, along with defender Ezri Konsa, without a normal pre-season, and both have found themselves linked with moves away. Whether Watkins’ standing with England and Villa counts for anything against a Saudi cheque book and ten days of window left is the question Emery cannot answer yet.

Martinez Also Looking for a New Challenge

Watkins is not the only farewell Villa might be writing this window. Emery confirmed that Emiliano Martinez has told the club he wants to leave and pursue “another challenge” in his career, a conversation that has apparently been building for longer than this transfer window alone.

“Martinez transmitted to us the possibility to have another challenge in his career, not just now and even last year, and he was thinking in case he had a possibility to change his challenges, but he stayed and performed fantastic,” Emery said. “This year, again, he transmitted to us for a new challenge, and we signed Suzuki to replace him. But the scenario we have is that we have two great goalkeepers. We will see what will happen.”

Villa have already moved to cover themselves there. The club confirmed a £51.3m double signing this summer that included Japan international goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, 23, who joined from Parma for £29.9m after two years in Italy. The other arrival, former Italy U21 left-back Matteo Ruggeri, 24, joined from Atletico Madrid for £21.4m after making 47 appearances in all competitions last season.

Emery was careful with his phrasing on why Suzuki arrived. “We have signed Suzuki not for the future, but for now. He has shown his capacity and that he can play at our level,” he said, while stressing the club currently has “two excellent keepers” rather than a settled succession plan. A move to Juventus for Martinez fell through earlier in the window, and the Argentina international remains at Villa Park for now, with Emery offering only “we will see” when pressed on where things stand.

A Turbulent Summer at Villa Park

The Watkins and Martinez situations arrive on top of a summer that has already tested Emery’s squad planning. Villa have lost Morgan Rogers to Chelsea in a club-record £117m deal and seen Youri Tielemans depart, departures that left a doom and gloom mood hanging over pre-season. That mood lifted briefly in Villa’s UEFA Super Cup final appearance against Paris Saint-Germain, where new signing Joao Gomes and 17-year-old academy forward Brian Madjo both impressed in a losing effort, with Madjo scoring against the French champions.

The good news from that game came with a cost. Both Gomes and Madjo have now picked up injuries heading into the Brighton opener, joining Amadou Onana and new signing Johan Manzambi on the sidelines. Between the injuries, the World Cup absentees and the uncertainty hanging over Watkins and Martinez, Emery goes into the new season with a squad that looks very different from the one that finished last term lifting a European trophy.

The Jackson Contingency

Villa are not simply hoping Watkins stays and doing nothing else. Sky Sports understands the club are expected to move for Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson if Watkins does end up leaving for Al Hilal, continuing a long-term interest that has persisted with two weeks left in the window. Jackson is valued at £65m by Chelsea, who spent last season loaning him out to Bayern Munich in a deal that was itself worth £70.5m, and now want a permanent sale rather than another loan arrangement.

Atletico Madrid are also interested in Jackson, though their preference is a loan deal, which could work in Villa’s favour if they are prepared to meet Chelsea’s asking price outright. Jackson played under Emery at Villarreal before his £30m move to Chelsea two years ago, a relationship that gives Villa’s interest a head start most rival suitors would not have.

The two clubs are already familiar with doing business this summer. Chelsea’s £117m signing of Rogers from Villa, along with Alejandro Garnacho’s loan move to Villa Park, means there is what Sky Sports describes as very good relations at the highest levels between the two boardrooms. A Watkins-for-Jackson swap of sorts, though not structured as one, would extend a summer of transfer activity between the clubs that has already reshaped both squads.

None of it is decided. Watkins remains a Villa player, Martinez remains a Villa player, and Jackson remains a Chelsea player who Villa are merely tracking rather than pursuing with an active bid. But Emery’s press conference left little doubt that the next ten days will decide the shape of his squad heading into the season, whichever way Watkins and Martinez go.

What Villa Stand to Lose

The scale of what is at stake becomes clearer when both situations are placed side by side. Watkins has been first-choice striker at Villa Park for five seasons and passed the century mark for goals in claret and blue last term, the campaign that also delivered a first European trophy for the club in three decades. Martinez has started every major cup final Villa have reached from his own arrival onward and remains one of the first names on Argentina’s team sheet. Losing either would be a blow. Losing both inside the same ten-day window, with no settled succession plan for the striker position and only a newly arrived understudy in goal, would leave Emery reshaping two of his most important positions on the eve of a season that starts with a trip to Brighton.

That is why Villa’s interest in Jackson is more than a passing name in a transfer column. If Watkins does leave, Emery has already identified the player he believes can step into that role, and the relationship between the two clubs this summer suggests any deal, if it happens, would not need to start from scratch. Martinez’s situation is murkier, with no obvious replacement lined up beyond Suzuki, whom Emery has been careful to describe as cover rather than a long-term successor. Villa’s transfer window closes on September 1. Whatever happens with Watkins and Martinez between now and then will shape far more than this weekend’s team sheet against Brighton.