Aston Villa were on quite the high when they wrapped things up at the end of the 2025/26 season, but their excitement ahead of the new campaign has been tempered by the £117m sale of Morgan Rogers to Chelsea.
It’s worth noting that Jack Grealish’s nine-digit sale precipitated a stunning rise to the fore of English football. No, not just domestic football, but European too, with Rogers delivering the Europa League title to this incredible fanbase with a 3-0 win over Freiburg in the final.
He didn’t do it alone, though. Aston Villa may have lost a sizeable piece of their focal attacking force, but they still have Ollie Watkins at number nine.
Why Ollie Watkins is still Aston Villa’s main man
Ahead of the business end of the campaign, Watkins was suffering at Aston Villa. Some whispered among themselves, convinced that the experienced attacker had run his race and was entering the twilight of his career in the Midlands.
Nonsense. Watkins proved that form is only temporary, rebounding at just the right time. Watkins was replete with goals over the final few months of the Premier League season, a spray of late strikes leaving him with 16 for the term – he also posted five goals and two assists across seven knockout games in the Europa League.
|
Ollie Watkins in the Premier League |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Season |
Apps |
Goals + Assists |
|
25/26 |
37 |
16 + 3 |
|
24/25 |
38 |
16 + 8 |
|
23/24 |
37 |
19 + 15 |
|
22/23 |
37 |
15 + 6 |
|
21/22 |
35 |
11 + 2 |
|
20/21 |
37 |
14 + 5 |
The chief goalscorer is also a leader and galvanising force for his teammates to follow. Match of the Day pundits Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney remarked on his “unbelievable” run of form to close out the campaign, and it’s clear now that he is going to have a role of even greater importance next year, ensuring Villa maintain form as they return to the Champions League.
Rogers won’t be there, but Emery will endure. Expect a big-money signing in attacking midfield areas, with Chelsea’s Alejandro Garnacho already snapped up on loan with a conditional buy option included.
However, with all this said, Watkins is definitely not a spring chicken anymore, and while Tammy Abraham joined the club in January, Villa wouldn’t be unwise to target a long-term successor during the current transfer window.
How Aston Villa could finally replace Watkins
Rogers’ sale is a tough one to take, but it does equip Aston Villa with a wealth of resources to reshape Emery’s squad over the next several weeks after that first deal to bring Garnacho over in Rogers’ place.
And if they plan to replace the England international in the aggregate, it might be worth paying attention to The Standards’ claim that Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson is interested in moving to Villa Park this summer as he searches for regular minutes.
Jackson, 25, spent the 2025/26 season on loan with Bayern Munich in Germany, but the Bundesliga champions opted against activating his £56m buy option.
Though Jackson has had his ups and downs in a Chelsea shirt, he has shown enough over the past several years to confirm his potential in the Premier League, where he has scored 24 goals and supplied ten assists across only 65 outings.
The Senegal international has been charged with being too wasteful in the past. He is also an aggressive and, at times, hot-headed striker, but he has matured, and undeniably has all the attributes to succeed as Aston Villa’s frontman, especially with Emery working him into shape.
Jackson is far more than just a shooter. He shares a rounded attacking game with Watkins, having always ranked highly for assists made against fellow Premier League forwards, allowing himself to be deployed across a range of offensive roles and thus sitting pretty at the top of charts for crosses completed and long balls made during the 2024/25 season in the English top flight.
He is fast and mobile, willing to get involved. Jackson might not be the most clinical in front of goal, but the same could be said for Watkins, who scored 16 times in the Premier League last term, yes, but also missed 19 big chances.
It’s the kind of shrewd signing that could bear dividends for Aston Villa down the line. Emery helped bring Jackson to the limelight with Villarreal back in the day, and now, he could reunite with his one-time protege and cement his elite status at Villa Park.
