Aston Villa have 'overlooked' obvious Ollie Watkins solution - ex-scout

Aston Villa would have been wise to target a move for Richarlison this summer after sanctioning Ollie Watkins' sale.

That is the opinion of former senior Villa scout, Bryan King, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.

The 29-year-old looked set to join his former club, Everton, in a £35million move that would have seen Iliman Ndiaye go the other way for £60m, but failed to agree personal terms.

Richarlison remains at Tottenham and will leave the club on a free transfer next summer if a solution cannot be found in January.

Watkins joined Al Hilal last week in a £51m deal and scored on his debut, with his six-year stay at Villa ultimately ending with his demand to leave the club.

The 30-year-old scored 21 goals across all competitions last season and has been replaced by Nicolas Jackson, who arrived from Chelsea for £65m.

'Question marks over Unai Emery'

Villa's attack undoubtedly looks less intimidating than last season without Watkins and Rogers, but there is hope that their new young talents can hit the ground running.

Ibrahim Mbaye, Alejandro Garnacho, Jackson and the hugely exciting Brian Madjo, who arrived in January but has not been able to play until now, make up a new-look attack for Unai Emery.

But there is likely still room for another, and Richarlison may well have been a cheap solution.

Speaking to Football Insider about Villa's window, King asked: "You let them all go in one summer. I just think, 'who's responsible for this?'

"Has he got any say on this, Emery? If I was the manager or the head coach, as they tend to call them today, I would want to have been in the discussions and made my point about it.

"There's going to be some question marks over Emery and the board. I'd have thought, possibly, [with] Watkins gone. Richarlison would have been the type of player he could have brought in for a year, you know? But they just overlooked that".

Will Nicolas Jackson be a success for Villa?

There is plenty of the unknown around the signing of Jackson, but there is a general acceptance that the 25-year-old has the right ability.

The striker scored 14 Premier League goals in his first season at Chelsea, and eight Bundesliga strikers in just 12 starts while on loan.

Disciplinary problems have been his downfall, but in Emery, he has a manager who knows him well and has previously got good form out of him.

Jackson made 27 appearances under the Spaniard at Villarreal, scoring three goals as he first began to find his feet.