Aston Villa's Disastrous Start: Paul Merson on Emery's Future

Aston Villa’s season is only just under way, but the mood around the club already feels bleak. A 4-0 defeat at Brighton, four goals conceded inside half an hour, has ripped away any illusion that this would simply be a smooth continuation of last year’s surge into the Champions League.

For Paul Merson, watching on as a former Villa player, it is painful.

“They were 4-0 down in 30 minutes,” he wrote in his Sky Sports column. “I didn’t expect them to beat Brighton, but I didn’t expect that either.”

Villa’s collapse comes at the end of a summer in which the club sold the spine of Unai Emery’s side. Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers have all gone. The Champions League qualifiers, the Europa Conference League winners, have been stripped of their core just when they were supposed to kick on.

“You sell all your best players, what do you expect?” Merson said. “We’re talking about a big, big football club that just got in the Champions League, won a European trophy – and then sold all their best players. It’s madness at the highest level.”

He does not see a relegation fight. The squad, even weakened, should have enough. But the idea of Villa mixing it again with the elite already feels far-fetched to him.

“I worry for Villa. I don’t expect them to go down, of course not. But I don’t expect them to finish in the top half even with a top manager like Emery.”

Emery’s Future Under the Microscope

The chaos around Villa’s transfer window has inevitably dragged the head coach into the conversation. Merson is adamant: this is not how a club should treat one of the game’s elite managers.

“If Emery’s not fed up with this situation, then he’s some person,” he said. “This situation is very rare. We saw Spurs win a European cup and finish 17th. He won the same European cup and finished fourth.”

Emery arrived at Villa Park and transformed the club, lifting them from mid-table drift to a top-four finish and European silverware. Now he finds key pieces walking out the door, one after another.

“I don’t see Emery hanging around for long if things continue like this,” Merson warned. “We’re talking about one of the top managers in the game, and everyone seems to be leaving him left, right and centre.”

For Merson, the emotional connection to Villa only sharpens the criticism.

“We’re talking Aston Villa, who I played for and are a great, great club. It breaks your heart when you see what’s happening. They’ve just fought to get to the promised land of Champions League football, winning a European trophy. Now it’s time to kick on. And they’ve sold everyone that’s top drawer.”

Tielemans Clause Branded ‘Deal of the Century’

Nothing irks Merson more than the numbers involved in some of Villa’s outgoing deals, particularly the Youri Tielemans transfer and the release clause that paved the way.

“Whoever did that contract for Youri Tielemans where he inserted a £36m release clause should be under scrutiny,” he said.

In the current market, that figure looks astonishingly low to him.

“Teams who are going to finish fourth-bottom or third-bottom this season are paying £35m for players. That is just an absolute cup of tea in this day and age of football. Everybody goes for more than that now. It’s the deal of the century.”

Tielemans now has to justify that move at Manchester United, but Merson’s point is about Villa’s side of the bargain.

“He’s got to perform when he gets to Manchester United, but that can’t happen if you’re Villa. You can’t put a clause in that says £35m for one of the best midfield players in the country.”

The same frustration spills over into the sale of Ezri Konsa.

“Again, the Ezri Konsa deal. An international centre-half, just been to the World Cup and he goes for £55m. It’s sad.”

For a club on the brink of the Champions League group stage, those fees feel to him like Villa underselling their future.

Watkins Row: ‘Disgusting at the Highest Level’

The turbulence hasn’t stopped with those who have already left. Transfer sagas still swirl around the squad. Ollie Watkins did not feature against Brighton amid serious interest from Saudi Arabia, while goalkeeper Emi Martinez also missed the game.

If reports are accurate that Watkins was fit but chose not to make himself available, Merson’s verdict is brutal.

“If it’s true that Ollie Watkins was fit to play in that Brighton game and he didn’t make himself available, then that’s disgusting at the highest level.”

He points straight at the responsibility players have to supporters.

“You’re getting paid a lot of money. People are sitting in the Holte End and they pay a lot of money for season tickets and for travelling up and down the country – and you can’t put yourself out to play a football match?”

The contrast between privilege and commitment is stark in his eyes.

“You’ve got the best job in the whole wide world. You’re playing in the Premier League, you’re playing centre forward, you’re earning fortunes, you’re getting paid to stay fit.”

Merson accepts that Saudi money will turn heads, especially for a player who is no longer at the start of his career.

“I understand that his head’s been turned. It’s a lot of money being offered by Saudi Arabia and he’s not a spring chicken anymore.”

But that, he insists, cannot excuse opting out on matchday.

“Think of the fans as well. You have to want to play football. Every one of those fans in the Holte End will give their right arm to play that game the other day.”

If Watkins did refuse to play, Merson believes he owes the supporters an explanation – and more.

“He should come and apologise [if he refused to play]. I don’t know what he gets out of not playing. If you’re Aston Villa, you should say to him: ‘I’m not paying you this week’. Because your job literally is to turn up at a weekend and play a football match.”

From Champions League euphoria to a 4-0 hammering and a squad stripped of its stars, Villa’s summer has veered off course at alarming speed. The question now is not just how quickly they can steady the ship – but whether Unai Emery will still be on board when they do.