Emery silent on Watkins as Villa reject Saudi bid

Unai Emery said only Ollie Watkins can explain why he was not in the Aston Villa squad that lost 4-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

"Ask him," Emery suggested. "I only can answer it by silence." Emery would mention "commitment" twice when responding to two other questions from Sky Sports. He also used the words "focus" and "motivation" during the same interview.

Watkins has not spoken publicly about his absence but on Friday, The Athletic reported that his club had rejected a fresh offer of around £45million ($61.4m) from Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal for the 30-year-old.

You do not have to be Lieutenant Frank Columbo to interpret roughly what is going on here or to appreciate — let us use a very modern football transfer term — the "direction of travel". Suffice to say, it would be a surprise if Watkins adds to his 108 goals in 278 appearances for Villa.

Alvarez jeered at Atletico after Barcelona move collapses

By comparison, you have Julian Alvarez trying to get out of Atletico Madrid, having admitted during the World Cup that he wanted to "fulfil his dream" of an exit — most probably to Barcelona.

Only last week Barcelona claimed they had moved on to other targets after Atletico refused to negotiate. Alvarez missed Atletico's opening day victory over Malaga due to fitness, according to his manager Diego Simeone, but he was jeered when he was announced as a substitute ahead of a 2-2 draw with Villarreal on Sunday before receiving a similarly hostile reception when he was introduced midway through the second half.

At the final whistle, Alvarez headed straight to the changing room, with Simeone attempting to clear up the reaction.

"Staff told me that the club decided Julian should not go over with his team-mates to greet the fans, and that it was not Julian's decision," the Argentine told reporters.

Different stages of separation

In each of the cases, the participants appear to be at different stages of separation. Simeone clearly has an interest in keeping the player or at least ensuring that he has an option of such quality available to him throughout the season, but Emery's reluctance to communicate about the issue might suggest that he no longer sees Watkins as his responsibility.

These positions conflict to some degree with the attitudes of supporters. Though a chunk of Atletico's fanbase sounds like it has already moved on from Alvarez, surely increasing the chances of him getting what he wants, the mood is different at Villa, a club which has already lost an array of stars over the summer.

If a deal for Watkins did not materialise, a rebuilding of trust would surely be as straightforward as the centre-forward scoring an important goal and everyone falling in love again. Just look at Jean-Philippe Mateta at Crystal Palace, who pulled every lever he could to try and secure a move to Milan in January, was booed when he returned after the move fell through, and then hailed as a hero when his goal won Palace the Conference League in May.

Mateta started at Everton on Saturday, despite still being in dispute with the club over the legal validity of the final year of his contract.

The point being that players can be forgiven for all sorts of nonsense if they: a) continue to perform, or b) the club has no better alternative in their position.

History and cautionary tales

There is a temptation to see players pushing for such moves as a new thing but you only have to think about how Villa's relationship with Dwight Yorke ended to remember some impressions of the good old days are false.

Unlike Watkins, Yorke turned out for Villa on the opening day of the 1998-99 campaign but according to his manager, John Gregory, he "never moved an inch," during a goalless draw at Everton. "He (Yorke) sulked for 90 minutes," Gregory claimed during a 2024 interview with the Under the Cosh podcast, where he concluded that a lack of effort was "part of his plan".

Gregory famously suggested at the time of Yorke's subsequent transfer to Manchester United that "if I'd had a gun, I would have shot him", but the messy divorce worked out for a striker who formed a devastating partnership with Andy Cole and won the treble during his first season at Old Trafford.

Both Watkins and Alvarez needed only to look at Newcastle United's 2-2 draw with Liverpool on Sunday, however, to know that pushing aggressively to get out of a club comes with risk.

Last summer, Liverpool's purchase of Alexander Isak for a British transfer record was brokered after the player went on strike, but he arrived at Anfield without a pre-season schedule behind him and he has since struggled with fitness and injury. Isak scored only three league goals for Liverpool in 2025-26, which was two more than his replacement at Newcastle.

The circumstances involving Yoane Wissa's transfer to Newcastle from Brentford were similar to Isak's: the DR Congo international had returned to London from his old club's summer training camp in Spain after making it clear that he wanted to move on. Like Isak, he would release a statement, calling out alleged unfulfilled promises.

While Isak toiled again for Liverpool at St James' Park and has much work to do to justify the hassle that brought him to Merseyside as well as his price tag, Wissa arguably delivered his best Newcastle performance to date, setting up his team's second goal.

That the bar is so low for Wissa should be a reminder to those trying to follow his example. They may spend so much energy and emotion trying to get to where they really want to be that they are in no position to contribute if and when they do make the move.