Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins is 'unhappy' at Villa Park after a summer transfer away collapsed, according to Football Insider pundit Mick Brown.
Unai Emery's side have had a disastrous start to their Premier League season with two draws and two defeats in their opening four games, with no goals scored in the process.
One of the most spoken about issues so far has been the poor form of top striker Watkins, and now it has emerged that the England international is unhappy after he saw a move elsewhere fail to materialise.
Watkins Unhappy at Aston Villa
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins pointing
Ollie Watkins
Watkins was heavily linked with a move away from the club during the summer amid interest from Arsenal, Newcastle United and Manchester United, but those clubs instead opted to move for Viktor Gyokeres, Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa and Benjamin Sesko respectively.
After the 30-year-old lost his place in the side to loanee Marcus Rashford towards the back end of last season, it has now emerged that the striker is 'unhappy' at the club as a result and the lack of transfer away may be affecting his confidence this season.
“There was so much talk about Watkins during the summer.
“Would he leave, would he stay, which clubs wanted him, will Villa let him go, will they get a new striker? All of those questions were being asked without much clarity on the situation.
“I think the interest from Arsenal might have turned his head a bit, he was very, very keen on a move there and obviously that never came to be.
“Towards the end of last season, he was being left out of the team in favour of Marcus Rashford and he wasn’t happy about that at the time.
“I can’t imagine that’s done many favours to his confidence, now coming back in as their main striker knowing they really wanted somebody else in there.
“But that’s where they are now, he’s still at Villa so he has to get his head down and work to help them get out of this difficult patch they’re in at the moment.
“I just get the feeling he’s not happy with how things have been handled there.”
Villa added to their forward options during the summer window by bringing in Evann Guessand from OGC Nice on a permanent deal, while the club also completed a loan move for Jadon Sancho from Man Utd and a loan-with-obligation-to-buy deal for Liverpool forward Harvey Elliott.
But with the squad struggling badly in front of goal so far this season, Emery needs to find a way to get Watkins firing once more or turning things around will prove to be incredibly difficult.