Aston Villa have reportedly received an official bid from Al Hilal for Ollie Watkins, said to be worth €45m in total.
The 30-year-old has been such a fundamental presence in our side since joining from Brentford in 2020, as he has been our talisman leading the line and has particularly thrived under Unai Emery to play a pivotal role in our progress and success.
However, his time at the club could potentially be coming to an end this summer, as Villa have a huge decision to make over his future.
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According to Fabrizio Romano, Al Hilal have now submitted an official bid worth €45m in total for Watkins, with the England international said to be keen on the move.
In turn, it now comes down to whether or not Villa choose to accept the offer, or continue to rebuff interest in our frontman as it had been reported earlier in the day that our stance was that Watkins would not be sold this summer.
Having already seen Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and potentially Emiliano Martinez move on in this transfer window, Villa surely can’t continue to break up the core of the squad with more big-name exits, as although it would give us a financial boost, it’s asking a lot to rebuild the majority of the starting line-up in one window.
While there is excitement over the talent and potential of Brian Madjo, the 17-year-old isn’t ready to play an entire season as our leading option up top, and so it seemed ideal to keep Watkins for another year at least and allow Madjo to continue to learn, improve and develop under his wing and then eventually replace him.
However, with this big-money offer now said to be on the table from Al Hilal, Villa have a big decision to make, as ultimately if they feel as though now is the right time to cash in on Watkins and he’s keen on a new challenge elsewhere, then we may well have to open the door for an exit and quickly reinvest the fee in a successor as we’ll undoubtedly need to add more firepower to the squad.
