Ollie Watkins to leave Aston Villa for €60m Saudi move

Ollie Watkins is set to leave Aston Villa for Saudi Arabia, ending his current spell with the English club. The move will take the centre-forward into a new footballing chapter after several seasons at Villa, where he has been part of the senior squad.

The transfer fee is set at €60 million. Watkins, who is 30 and holds English citizenship, has a listed market value of €25 million at Aston Villa. The fee would therefore stand €35 million above that valuation. The available details do not identify the Saudi Arabian club involved.

Watkins joined Aston Villa from Brentford for €34 million in the 2020-21 season. His previous move took him from Exeter City to Brentford for €7.22 million in the 2017-18 campaign. Earlier in his career, he moved between Weston-super-Mare and Exeter City during the 2014-15 season, first joining Exeter before returning to Weston-super-Mare.

The forward’s listed injury history includes a muscle injury and knee problems. His departure would leave Aston Villa without a 30-year-old centre-forward who arrived from Brentford for a club-record figure in his transfer history. The €60 million Saudi move would be the highest fee recorded for Watkins, exceeding the €34 million paid by Aston Villa and the €7.22 million Brentford paid for him.