The real reason for Ollie Watkins’ Aston Villa demise revealed
Ollie Watkins is in the worst form of his Aston Villa career right now and the club’s failures in the recent summer transfer window could be the reason why.
Aston Villa have struggled at the start of the 2025-26 season, and Ollie Watkins’ poor penalty against Bologna in the Europa League on Thursday (26 September) was a clear sign of their crisis of confidence.
The England striker netted double figures in league goals for the fifth successive season in 2024-25, but seven games into this campaign and he is still yet to score.
Football Insider revealed in May that Arsenal were planning to reignite their interest in Watkins after the Villans rejected a £50million offer from the Gunners for him in January, while Man United were also linked with a move for Watkins in the summer as Ruben Amorim aimed to overhaul his attacking options.
Watkins was also targeted by Newcastle up to the end of the window, but he remained at Villa Park as they explored other deals, and the reasoning behind his current struggles could be staring Unai Emery and his coaches in the face.
Ollie Watkins needed Aston Villa to sign striker rival
Watkins has thrived off having to play well to keep his place in the team at Villa over the last few years, especially last season, as they enjoyed a superb run in the Champions League and aimed to qualify for the tournament once again.
Colombian striker Jhon Duran joined the Villans in the summer of 2024, and he won plaudits for the way he effected games off the bench with four goals as a substitute in the first five games of last term.
His strong form only spurred Watkins on to do more to keep his place in Emery’s starting eleven, though, as he kept Duran out of the team for the most part and scored eight goals before the turn of the year, later admitting that it was “nice to have that competition” for places.
Duran soon left to join Al-Nassr, but Villa replaced him by signing Marcus Rashford on loan from Man United, with Emery often choosing to play him through the middle as well as on the left-wing.
He scored twice while starting as a striker in the Premier League, against Brighton and Nottingham Forest respectively, and he was chosen to start in two of the club’s biggest games in years against PSG in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Rashford failed to take his chance with Watkins on the bench, and the 29-year-old went on to prove his worth to Emery with a goal and an assist against Newcastle on 19 April when he was reinstated to the starting eleven after the PSG ties.
Watkins said after that Newcastle clash that he had been “fuming” not to start against the Parisians, as he insisted that he is “not one of these players [that is] happy to sit on the bench.“
With that said, it is clear that Villa made a grave mistake by not providing Watkins with the right competition to make him hit top-form this season.
Evann Guessand joined Aston Villa from Nice for £23.5m last month, and while he had a good scoring record in France, he has not hit the ground running in English football and has been utilised on the wing rather than up-front.
Watkins was actually dropped for the Bologna clash on Thursday, with Donyell Malen starting as a striker, but the Dutch international also flattered to deceive and looks pretty unlikely to be a regular starter in that position going forward.
The club’s owners, V Sports, needed to sign a top-quality striker in the summer window, akin to the quality of Duran or Rashford, to give Watkins the fire in his belly needed to fire them to glory, but they failed to do so and have paid the price so far this season as a result.
Watkins has been backed to get better and needs to improve quickly
The club’s former senior scout, Mick Brown, has told Football Insider that Watkins is not happy at Aston Villa after failing to seal a move away, but he simply needs to put the summer window behind him before he is thrust down the pecking order permanently at Villa Park.
Despite his poor showing against Bologna, Unai Emery has backed his striker to hit the mark soon, saying: “It doesn’t matter, the goal is coming through the work he did today. He pressed, he was getting in duels, he got chances, he got a penalty, he missed [the penalty] but the most important [thing] is how he played in 30 minutes doing his task and he did a fantastic job.”
| Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| 230 | 87 | 42 |
It’s not as if Emery has another genuine number nine option to fall back on, with Guessand and Malen both seemingly preferring to play out wide.
It is clear that Villa’s own form effectively hinges on Watkins playing well, with the Bologna win their first of 2025-26, and their fans will hope that a win against Fulham on Sunday (28 September) is led by the England international as he aims to return to scoring form.