Ollie Watkins is an Al-Hilal player. Fifty-one million pounds, a three-year contract in Riyadh, and a farewell note on Sunday that read like a man who had not planned any part of it.
"Never did I intend, nor did I imagine, my time at Aston Villa would end this way," the 30-year-old wrote. A line later: "I am eternally grateful for the last six years."
How it turned sour
Villa's record Premier League scorer, 91 goals, made himself unavailable for the opening-day trip to Brighton. Villa lost that game 4-0. Unai Emery said afterwards that Watkins had apologised to him for it. Not a good week, in other words, for what had been one of the steadier player-manager relationships in the league.
Emery's public response was gentler than most managers would have managed. He spoke about having "small tears" when he said goodbye and called Watkins fantastic. Whatever got said behind closed doors at Bodymoor Heath stayed there.
Six years, 91 league goals, one European trophy
Watkins arrived from Brentford in 2020 and scored in the 7-2 win over Liverpool almost straight away. After that came Champions League nights at Villa Park, a return to European football, and the Europa League final win over Freiburg, Villa's first European trophy in 44 years. He started that final.
His message named Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard and Emery. It also mentioned his two children, both born in Birmingham. "Birmingham will always be home, and so will Villa."
Villa's summer has been a clear-out
He is not going alone. Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Emiliano Martinez have all left this summer. Martinez turned up at Chelsea and walked straight into Xabi Alonso's XI against Brighton, less than four hours after the £7.5m move was confirmed. Villa are reshaping the squad to comply with Uefa's squad cost ratio rules, and the accounting behind it is not remotely subtle.
Money has moved the other way too. Johan Manzambi broke the club transfer record in July. Nicolas Jackson, signed from Bayern Munich for £65m, broke it again and is the man expected to fill the Watkins-shaped hole. Joao Gomes, Zion Suzuki and Matteo Ruggeri have also arrived, and a £29m deal for Southampton's Taylor Harwood-Bellis is close to done before Tuesday's deadline, at £25m up front plus £4m in add-ons.
What Al-Hilal are assembling
Watkins joins Crysencio Summerville, who left West Ham after their relegation. Gabriel Martinelli is due in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a medical, with Arsenal understood to have agreed a fee of at least £50m for the Brazilian. The Saudi Pro League's shopping list this window has been narrow and deliberate: Premier League forwards in their mid-to-late twenties who have fallen out of the plan at their clubs.
The fee is not the part that will annoy Villa supporters. £51m for a 30-year-old striker is good business by any measure. It's that the best six years of Watkins' career finished in the middle of a row over an aeroplane to Saudi Arabia.
Villa host Arsenal at Villa Park on Monday night, 20:00 BST. Watkins will be watching from somewhere else.
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