Villa star ‘wants to move’ as two parties regret Man Utd transfer verdict with ‘relationship broken’ | OneFootball

An Aston Villa star “wants to move” after missing out on a switch to Manchester United, but he no longer has a chance of joining the Red Devils…

Aston Villa‘s resurgence under Unai Emery continued on Sunday as Boubacar Kamara scored their latest goal from distance to compound Wolves’ misery.

The Villans are now up to fourth in the Premier League table as Emery has found answers to shut down the premature early-season sack talk.

Goals from distance and a resolute defence have sparked their run of 11 wins in 13 games in all competitions, but England international Ollie Watkins remains a negative for Aston Villa.

Watkins has suffered a significant fall from grace this season as he’s recently been replaced in Aston Villa’s starting XI by makeshift striker Donyell Malen, while he has also been shunned by England boss Thomas Tuchel.

We suspected that Watkins would kick on after ending his goal drought at the end of September, but his finish in the win against Fulham remains his only goal in his 19 appearances across all competitions this term.

The 29-year-old has never been an elite striker, but he is in the very good category when he’s at his best and Emery has got the maximum out of the forward in recent seasons.

However, the handling of the failed £60m summer transfer to Manchester United, who eventually opted to sign Benjamin Sesko instead, appears to have set Watkins on a downward path.

Now, former Premier League manager Alan Pardew has explained why he thinks Watkins “wants to move” with the relationship with Aston Villa “broken”.

“I think Ollie wants to move, if I’m honest,” Pardew said on talkSPORT.

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“And I think he has a fairly good reason because when they got to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and he got left out for a player on loan in (Marcus) Rashford in both ties.

“(He’s) the high profile guy, he’d earned the right with all the goals that had got them there and then he doesn’t play.

“I just think there’s a bridge burned there that is difficult to come back from. I do think that relationship is broken.

“I might be wrong, but looking at his body language and everything else about him, probably best for everybody for him to move on.

“He’s a great player and to get into the England frame, he might need to move on.”

Pardew is probably right in saying that the striker “needs to move on”, but the past few months have surely ended his hopes of ever joining Man Utd or another Big Six side.

Watkins would have been a useful signing for Man Utd if they had the funds to sign two strikers, as his experience would have helped Sesko to settle, but he is no longer justifying his price tag and will surely have to settle for, at best, a sideways move for his post-Villa transfer.

Therefore, the failed transfer to Man Utd represents a major missed opportunity for Watkins and Aston Villa, who would recoup a small fraction of their £60m summer asking price to ease their financial troubles if/when the forward departs.