Aston Villa confirmed Ollie Watkins signed a new long-term contract on Friday, adding him to a growing list of key players committing their long-term futures.
Although details were absent in the club’s statement, Matt Maher was among those to report that it’s a five-year deal that will keep the 27-year-old with us until June 2028, and so it’s another important piece of internal business from the club.
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Further, we’re now seeing different aspects of our long-term strategy under this new-look management. While we strengthened over the summer, we also sold Cameron Archer, Aaron Ramsey and Jaden Philogene to boost out FFP position, thus giving us flexibility moving forward to continue to bring in new players.
Additionally, with buy-back clauses included in those agreements, there is control over our future in terms of whether or not we wish to bring them back.
What we’ve seen emerge under Emery over the past year though is a core group to his plans moving forward. We have fundamental individuals who will be pivotal to our progression in the coming years, and we’re making a concerted effort to have them all under contracts for the upcoming cycle under the Spaniard.
Watkins joins Ezri Konsa, Moussa Diaby and Pau Torres in having a contract that runs until 2028, while Jacob Ramsey, Boubacar Kamara, Emiliano Martinez, John McGinn and Matty Cash have deals in place through to 2027.
There will likely be movement in the near future on the likes of Douglas Luiz, Emiliano Buendia, Tyrone Mings, Diego Carlos and Alex Moreno who will see their respective contracts end in 2026, but barring our loanees and Leon Bailey [2025], we now don’t have any fundamental figures with an expiring contract in the next two years.
That is sensible management and planning from the Villa hierarchy, as we have our core squad members in place, and we can continue to build and improve around them moving forward to become increasingly competitive.
Conversely, playing devil’s advocate, if there was significant interest in one of our top players now, we’re in a stronger position to demand hefty terms in our favour given the contract situation, if we were open to selling.
It also arguably says a lot about our project and vision now that we’re able to convince so many of our leading players to put pen to paper on long-term extensions, as we’re undoubtedly going in the right direction under this ownership and with Emery at the helm.
Performances and results on the pitch will ultimately dictate just how successful this run proves to be for us, but it’s refreshing that we are seemingly in a solid position now to keep our best players, sensibly manage our financial position so as to not have to sell key individuals, and continue to get better each transfer window.
That trend hopefully continues for years to come, but Watkins signing a new contract is the latest off-the-pitch boost we have received in recent months.
"The fallen giants are back on their feet."
UTV. pic.twitter.com/RvCYAAPCtT
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 5, 2023
