Sport
Can Aston Villa keep pushing forward despite losing key players?
These should be heady days for Aston Villa and their fans. After winning the Europa League and qualifying for the Champions League, theoretically they are in a position of strength from which to build and launch an assault on the Premier League elite, but they can’t.
Instead, they are scrambling and looking for any sort of momentum to stop them going backwards.
Key players are leaving and they are finding it hard to replace them. Ezri Konsa recently joined Arsenal for £51m, following Lucas Digne, now back at Paris Saint-Germain, Morgan Rogers, now Britain’s most expensive footballer following his £117m move to Chelsea and Youri Tielemans, snapped up by Manchester United due to a £35m release clause, in departing the club.
Losing 4-0 at Brighton on Sunday, the opening day of the season, was a sobering reminder of those difficulties. Worse, perhaps, for manager Unai Emery, was the fact he was also missing goalkeeper Emi Martinez and striker Ollie Watkins, who are also said to be keen on exits.
Watkins, 30, reportedly missed training last week amid interest and rejected bids from Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal.
Emery didn’t engage on questions around Watkins after the game.
“This question is for him. You can call him and try to get his answer,” he told Match of the Day when asked about whether the striker refused to play.
“The players here wanted to play and we had two strikers with a small injury. The question on Watkins is for him.”
“We are building the team. Last year and two years ago we were building the team in August,” said Emery after the defeat at Brighton.”
Nobody at Villa was caught off guard by these developments. The Premier League and UEFA both have financial restrictions in place, making it difficult for clubs outside of the traditional elite to compete regularly.
The same issues have anchored Newcastle United, too. They’ve seen Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes all depart for Premier League rivals in the last 12 months. After winning the Carabao Cup in 2025 and qualifying for the Champions League, the Magpies were held back after Isak went and finished 12th last season, leading to the rest of the exodus. Eddie Howe, their manager, then resigned in July.
As has been speculated with Watkins, Isak rather infamously tried and succeeded in forcing his way out of the club. Watkins has reportedly apologised to his team-mates and returned to training; Villa still want to keep him but it remains to be seen whether that is the end of the matter,
That he would even want to trade in another European campaign for Saudi tells a story of a key issue Villa face, matching the wages on offer from potentially interested parties.
Villa will hope Newcastle’s fate is not a glimpse into their future. Keeping Emery, who is their real superstar, is vital and could even be decisive in their fate this season. Exciting World Cup stars, midfielder Johan Manzambi and goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, have arrived but their impacts are yet to be felt.
Both Villa and Newcastle have been walking a tight-rope when it comes to complying financially. Every decision on recruitment, in and out, has to be perfect; if not, the consequences can be dire. Villa have sold in every summer but this one feels worse; their team has been gutted and they’ve got no choice but to get up and fight.
As long as Emery is around, Villa have a chance. But now the Champions League feels like a difficult thing to navigate and something to be managed, rather than the next step on their exciting journey to becoming a real force at home and abroad.
They, and Newcastle have been left cursing. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
