Aston Villa manager Unai Emery reacted to a sluggish first-half performance by his team in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Wolves by making four substitutions during the interval.
Among the players to go off was star striker Ollie Watkins, who was recently the subject of a transfer offer from Arsenal – which Villa rejected.
Watkins only touched the ball 12 times during the opening 45 minutes at Molineux and he failed to register a single shot.
However, his removal from the game may have been due to a fitness issue, rather than just his poor performance, as the 29-year-old appeared to pick up an injury shortly before the break.
Watkins required lengthy attention from the Villa medical team after he fell awkwardly following a mid-air collision with Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa.
Villa were losing 1-0 thanks to a 12th-minute strike from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde when Emery withdrew Watkins, Jacob Ramsey, Andres Garcia and Lucas Digne. Their replacements were Leon Bailey, Donyell Malen, Ian Maatsen and Amadou Onana.
Watkins has featured in all 24 of Villa’s Premier League games so far this season, scoring 11 goals.
His status as one of Villa’s most invaluable players was enhanced earlier this week when fellow centre forward Jhon Duran was sold to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia for £64.5million.
Duran had been an unused sub in the Champions League on Wednesday night when Villa beat Celtic 4-2 to secure a place in the round of 16.
Watkins found the net in that game, while Morgan Rogers stole the show by scoring a hat-trick.
But Villa were brought back down to Earth with a bump on Saturday.
Despite making a slight improvement following Emery’s quadruple substitution, Villa were unable to find an equaliser and eventually went on to lose 2-0 after Matheus Cunha struck a second Wolves goal deep into stoppage time.
After failing with their initial offer for Watkins, Arsenal were expected to lodge another bid for the England international.
However, Duran’s departure seemingly reduced further the likelihood of Villa entertaining the idea of selling Watkins this winter.
Furthermore, a significant injury would surely end all hope of a mid-season deal.
Watkins though is understood to be interested in a potential move to the Emirates Stadium.
He has made it no secret that he is an Arsenal fan. Back in 2020, when he was still playing for Brentford, Watkins said at the London Football Awards: ‘That’s the dream, to play for Arsenal one day. But, you know, it’s a long shot.’
Watkins also said at the time that Gunners legend Thierry Henry was his idol when he was growing up.
