Ollie Watkins is unhappy with the Bit-Part role that he has lately played for Aston Villa, although Unai Emery hopes to link him to Marcus Rashford in attack at a given moment.
Watkins came from the bank to score after a brilliant Youri Tielemans Assenter when Villa Southampton defeated 3-0 in their most recent Premier League match, which stimulated their hope for Champions League qualification for 2025-26.
However, he only started with one of the last five games of Villa, with Rashford that led the line from the off at Southampton and in the first stage of their Champions League quarterfinals against Paris Saint-Germain last week.
And Watkins, who is said to be the subject of an £ 60 million from Arsenal in the January transfer window, is not happy with playing second violin.
“For me I am not happy to sit on the couch,” said Watkins. “It is disappointing every game I stand on the couch, but it is the manager's decision at the end of the day.”
Marco Asensio had saved two penalties by Aaron Ramsdale in Villa's victory in Southampton, and Watkins was visibly disappointed not to take the second of those spotkicks after he won the first.
Watkins has scored 73 Premier League goals for Villa, so that he has put one behind Gabriel Agbonlahor's club record of 74.
“Am I aware of the record? Of course I am,” said Watkins. “That is why I also wanted to take the fine, to match it, one to get the record.
“Two more to beat it. I am thinking about breaking it. I will do it at some point and I look forward to that day.”
A sensational finish from Ollie after that ping from your pic.twitter.com/O0P92SDX4X
– Aston Villa (@AVFCofficial) April 12, 2025
Villa faces PSG on Tuesday and needs a big win to get the chance to extend their European run, after a 3-1 defeat in the French capital last week.
And Boss Emery believes that Watkins and Rashford can play side by side, although he wants to work with two strikers on the training ground before he takes action.
“The next step – if I have time – is to play them together,” Emery told reporters on Tuesday.
“We did that Rashford played the left side, but now we choose more with both games as strikers.
“That's the next step. I want to practice, I want to test, but not now, with enough time.”
Villa's defeat on the first leg was the third time that they have lost two or more goals in the first stage of a knockout stage in large European competition.
They did not succeed in each of the previous two authorities (1-5 on aggregated versus Royal Antwerp in 1975-76 in the UEFA Cup and 2-6 V Olympiakos in the Conference League).
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