Emery's Tearful Farewell to Watkins Amid Saudi Move

Unai Emery cut a conflicted figure as he said goodbye to Ollie Watkins, revealing the striker apologised to the Aston Villa squad after refusing to play in Sunday’s game against Brighton.

Watkins, Villa’s record Premier League goalscorer, is expected in Saudi Arabia on Friday to complete a £51m move to Al-Hilal. Villa, already planning for life without him, are poised to seal a £65m deal for Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson as his replacement.

The manner of Watkins’ exit briefly threatened to cloud his legacy. The 30-year-old made himself unavailable for the Brighton match, a decision that stunned many inside the club. Emery confirmed the forward fronted up in the dressing room afterwards.

“He told us after the Brighton match he was sorry and that he had made a mistake. He was wrong, but we accepted it. The players as well,” Emery said.

The apology landed because of what came before it. Watkins arrived from Brentford in 2020 for £28m and grew into the face of Villa’s resurgence, scoring 91 Premier League goals and 108 in all competitions. He led the line through managerial changes, European qualification and a return to the elite conversation. When Villa needed a goal, it was usually Watkins sprinting away, arms wide, Villa Park roaring.

Emery made a point of separating one misjudgement from four years of service.

“His commitment and his behaviour was fantastic. He’s a fantastic guy – a fantastic guy even more than a player. I told him ‘bye’ with a huge hug and with small tears,” the head coach admitted.

Those are not the words of a manager pushing a problem out of the door. They are the words of a coach losing his main striker and one of his dressing-room pillars.

Yet football does not wait. Watkins flies east, and Villa pivot immediately.

“But now it’s a new chapter here with Nicolas Jackson,” Emery said.

Jackson will walk into a dressing room that has just lost its most reliable finisher and into a fanbase that has grown used to seeing No 11 on the scoresheet. The price tag, £65m, underlines the scale of expectation. The shirt he inherits carries numbers and memories that will not fade quickly.

Watkins leaves as a record-breaker, his late flash of defiance followed by contrition and forgiveness. Jackson arrives to write the next line.