Unai Emery Addresses Aston Villa's Transfer Turmoil with Watkins and Martinez

Unai Emery has ripped the lid off Aston Villa’s uneasy summer, confirming the club has received formal bids for Europa League hero Ollie Watkins and conceding that Emi Martinez could yet follow him out of the door.

The Europa League winners are creaking under the weight of interest from abroad. The timing could hardly be worse.

Watkins at the centre of a storm

Watkins, who fired Villa to European glory with five goals and two assists in the competition, is now a prime target for Saudi Pro League giants Al-Hilal. His situation has gone from speculation to something far more concrete.

“We have an issue with him, it's clear. He is our player. We have had offers for him, I don't want to sell him but it can change because if it's a good option for him and the club and I can replace him in the squad, this is the routine we have and we did before with the players who are leaving,” Emery told reporters when pressed on the 30-year-old’s future.

That line – “I don't want to sell him but it can change” – will chill Villa fans already watching the core of a European title-winning side being dismantled.

Watkins has been the face of Villa’s resurgence since arriving from Brentford in 2020, scoring 108 goals in all competitions. Losing that output now, with the season just starting, would be a brutal hit to Emery’s plans.

The head coach is clinging to hope, but his realism cuts through.

“With Ollie, he is here, for me he is a fantastic striker, we have always believed in him. Now he is our player, there are 10 days more or less to finish the transfer window, we will see what happens, I'm happy with him, if he is staying with us he will continue playing his level. If he leaving it's because it is good for three ways, one is him, another is the club and another is the team,” Emery added.

Ten days. For Villa, it feels like a countdown clock.

Core of Europa League winners being stripped away

Watkins’ possible exit would not be an isolated blow. It would be another heavy piece torn from a squad already thinned out by major departures.

Ezri Konsa has gone to Arsenal for £51 million. Morgan Rogers has joined Chelsea in a British record deal worth £117 million. Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne have also moved on in this window.

Each departure has brought money in. Each has taken experience, chemistry and leadership out.

If Watkins joins that exodus, Emery will have lost the spine of the side that lifted the Europa League barely two months ago. The rebuild would move from challenging to frantic.

Martinez future still hanging in the balance

The uncertainty doesn’t stop at the other end of the pitch.

Emi Martinez, a World Cup winner in 2022 and one of the most influential goalkeepers in the league, is also weighing up his future. A proposed switch to Juventus fell apart over the fee, but the Argentine’s desire to test himself elsewhere has not disappeared.

Villa have already acted. Japan international Zion Suzuki has arrived from Parma for £30 million, not as a project, but as a live option to start.

“We have two excellent goalkeepers, of course we signed Suzuki not for the future but for now. He showed his capacity to get his performance to our level. He will need to adapt to us but he is playing at this level,” Emery explained.

Martinez, he revealed, has been open about wanting to explore a new chapter.

“Martinez transmitted to us the possibility to have another challenge in his career. Even last year, he was thinking in case he can have one possibility to change for his challenges,” Emery said.

The theme has not gone away.

“He didn't do it last year and he performed fantastic with us. This year, again, he transmitted us the possibility to have another challenge and we decided to sign Suzuki because I think he's a fantastic goalkeeper,” the manager added.

The message is clear: Villa are braced for life without their No 1, even if they still hope to keep him.

A squad on the brink of transformation

Put Watkins and Martinez on the outgoing list alongside Konsa, Rogers, Tielemans and Digne, and the picture becomes stark. Villa would have sold more than half of the starting XI that delivered the Europa League title.

That level of turnover in one window is seismic. It heaps pressure on Villa’s recruitment team to land ready-made replacements in the final days of the market, not just long-term prospects.

There is no soft launch for this new-look side either. Villa open their Premier League campaign away to Brighton on Sunday, with Emery trying to prepare a team while key pillars of his dressing room glance towards the exit.

The money is flowing in. The offers are on the table. The question now is simple and unforgiving: how much of their Europa League-winning identity can Villa afford to sell before the season’s ambitions start to crumble?