{"id":747504,"date":"2026-08-23T20:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T20:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/747504\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T20:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T20:54:09","slug":"call-his-agent-emery-feels-watkins-should-explain-absence-from-villas-rout-by-brighton-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/747504\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Call his agent\u2019: Emery feels Watkins should explain absence from Villa\u2019s rout by Brighton | Aston Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unai Emery did nothing to deny that Ollie Watkins had refused to play for Aston Villa in their sobering 4-0 defeat by Brighton<\/a> at the Amex on Sunday. The head coach had a selection crisis up front with Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham injured. However, he did not include Watkins in the matchday squad as the England striker considers a move to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Emery was forced to rely on the attacking midfielder Emiliano Buend\u00eda as an emergency striker and his team disappeared without trace on the south coast. They were 4-0 down after 31 minutes and had their new signing Jo\u00e3o Gomes sent off on his debut in the 40th minute. Gomes kicked up and out at the Brighton striker Georginio Rutter after being dispossessed by him.<\/p>\n

Al-Hilal have made a number of bids for Watkins, all of which have been rejected. It is understood the 30-year-old is open to the move and Emery talked on Friday like a manager who was realistic about the sale happening. Villa would plainly like to replace Watkins should he depart as they approach the end of another difficult summer window. They have already sold Ezri Konsa, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans, while they are expected to move on Emiliano Mart\u00ednez.<\/p>\n

Emery was asked why he had not picked Watkins against Brighton. \u201cThis question is for him,\u201d he said. \u201cI can answer only with my silence.\u201d Emery was then asked if Watkins had refused to play, to which he said: \u201cI think you can call him and you can call his agent and he can respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian have contacted Watkins\u2019s agent for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Watkins] can only explain his answer, I can\u2019t,\u201d Emery added, after being asked if he felt let down by Watkins.<\/p>\n

Emery reported that Madjo would be out for \u201ctwo weeks more \u2026 more or less\u201d while attacking midfielder Johan Manzambi \u2013 who has been the club\u2019s marquee summer signing \u2013 would \u201cneed maybe some days more [than that]\u201d. He was unclear about a timeframe for Abraham\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

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Emery talked up the resistance of his players in the second half against Brighton and said he was optimistic about finding solutions for the season ahead. But he returned to the difficult preparations for the opening fixture, noting that: \u201cTwo strikers are injured and another striker gives his answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The head coach added: \u201cThis problem [with the transfer market] \u2026 we had every season and every season we overcame it. It\u2019s something we have to accept and always we reacted, especially the players. This is something hard for us every year but we are calm. With this result, it\u2019s more difficult to explain but calm, work, be positive and find solutions for the next week and after the transfer window.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unai Emery did nothing to deny that Ollie Watkins had refused to play for Aston Villa in their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-747504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}