Ollie Watkins at the Center of Aston Villa's Summer Uncertainty

Ollie Watkins stands at the centre of Aston Villa’s turbulent summer, with Unai Emery unable to promise his star striker will still be at the club when the transfer window shuts.

The England forward is wanted by Saudi giants Al-Hilal and, crucially, Emery has confirmed that formal offers have already arrived. After a summer of high-profile exits, the prospect of losing Watkins would cut even deeper at Villa Park.

Ezri Konsa is heading to Arsenal in a £51m deal. Morgan Rogers has gone to Chelsea for a staggering £117m, a record fee. Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne have also moved on. One by one, key pieces of Emery’s Europa League-winning side are being stripped away.

Through it all, Emery insists he wants Watkins to stay. He just can’t promise he will.

"We have an issue with him, it's clear. He is our player. We have had offers for him," Emery said. "I don't want to sell him but it can change because if it's a good option for him and the club and I can replace him in the squad, this is the routine we have and we did before with the players who are leaving.

"With Ollie, he is here, for me he is a fantastic striker, we have always believed in him.

"Now he is our player, there are 10 days more or less to finish the transfer window, we will see what happens, I'm happy with him, if he is staying with us he will continue playing his level.

"If he leaving it's because it is good for three ways, one is him, another is the club and another is the team."

Watkins is not just another name on the teamsheet. Since arriving from Brentford for £28m in 2020, he has scored 108 goals for Villa and become the club’s record Premier League marksman. He is the reference point of Emery’s attack, the man who turned chances into a European trophy just two months ago.

If Watkins goes, and if Emi Martinez follows him out of the door, Villa will have cashed in on six members of the starting XI that lifted the Europa League. That is not a rebuild. That is a dismantling.

For now, Martinez remains. His proposed move to Juventus collapsed when the clubs failed to agree a fee, leaving the World Cup winner in limbo and Villa’s planning twisted into something more urgent.

Villa have already acted in goal, paying £30m to bring in Japan international Zion Suzuki from Parma as their new No.1. The intention is clear: Suzuki is not a project for tomorrow.

Emery spelled it out.

"We have two excellent goalkeepers, of course we signed Suzuki not for the future but for now. He showed his capacity to get his performance to our level. He will need to adapt to us but he is playing at this level.

"Martinez transmitted to us the possibility to have another challenge in his career.

"Even last year, he was thinking in case he can have one possibility to change for his challenges.

"He didn't do it last year and he performed fantastic with us. This year, again, he transmitted us the possibility to have another challenge and we decided to sign Suzuki because I think he's a fantastic goalkeeper."

Martinez will not feature in Sunday’s Premier League opener at Brighton. After a post-World Cup break, he has managed just one training session and will sit out as Villa begin a new campaign under a cloud of uncertainty.

A club that scaled Europe in May now stares at the final 10 days of the window wondering if its record scorer and World Cup-winning goalkeeper will still be there when the dust settles.