sports

Watkins Flies to Saudi to Complete Al Hilal Move

Published

34 minutes ago

August 28, 2026

Watkins flies to Saudi Arabia to complete an Al Hilal move from Aston Villa in a deal worth €58.4m plus €2m add-ons, Fabrizio Romano reports

Transfer correspondent Fabrizio Romano said on Friday 28 August 2026 that Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins is flying to Saudi Arabia with his agents to complete a move to Al Hilal.

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Aston Villa are due to receive €58.4m plus €2m in add-ons, a package first reported by Fabrizio Romano on Wednesday when the clubs agreed the deal. The Athletic has put the guaranteed fee at about £50m. Neither club has confirmed the transfer.

Ollie Watkins, 30, joined Villa from Brentford in 2020 and became the club’s record Premier League scorer.

He has 108 goals in 278 appearances. Last season he played 55 times, scored 21 goals and added five assists as Unai Emery’s side won the Europa League and reached the Champions League.

Villa spent much of August trying to keep him. They rejected a formal Al Hilal bid of about €45m and offered a contract to 2030.

His present deal runs to 2028. He turned those talks down and was left out of the 4-0 Premier League defeat at Brighton.

Unai Emery had already sketched the terms of a sale. “We have offers for him. He’s our player, I don’t want to sell him, but that can change because if it’s a good option for him, good option for the club and I can replace him, this is the routine we have,” the Villa manager said.

The replacement is taking shape. Villa have agreed a deal worth up to £65m to sign Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea, a striker Unai Emery coached at Villarreal. Al Hilal want Ollie Watkins on a three-year contract after a medical in the kingdom.

The fee is a large return on the Brentford outlay. For Villa it is also a gamble: selling a proven Premier League centre-forward after a trophy season, and trusting a new No. 9 to carry the attack.