Ollie Watkins leaves Aston Villa for Saudi Arabia as Nicolas Jackson arrives | OneFootball

Unai Emery confirmed on Friday that Ollie Watkins is leaving Aston Villa for Saudi Arabia, with Nicolas Jackson arriving as his replacement. According to L'Équipe, Watkins is expected to join Al-Hilal, with a fee in the region of €60m.

The 30-year-old has been at Villa since 2020, scoring 108 goals in 277 matches, and has 24 England caps with seven goals.

Watkins was absent from the squad beaten 4-0 by Brighton on Sunday, which irked Emery. The striker apologised afterwards, accepted by staff and team, and the coach described an emotional farewell.

Jackson, 25, has been a Chelsea player since 2023 and spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich, scoring 11 in 34. A €70m figure has been mentioned for the Senegal forward.

Villa, winners of last season’s Europa League, have already seen Lucas Digne, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers depart to PSG, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea respectively.

Emery said the club do not want to be sellers but accepted exits because players asked to go and the deals suited Villa. He insisted ambitions remain to compete and fight at the top end of the table.

Most of those departures have been covered numerically. Reinforcements include Matteo Ruggeri, Leon Goretzka, Joao Gomes and Johan Manzambi.

Source: L'Équipe

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