Losing Ollie Watkins could have broken Aston Villa but Nicolas Jackson has made them better
Aston Villa essentially signed a brand new starting XI over the summer – they almost had to.
It was a period of substantial change for the Villans, who lost Amadou Onana to an ACL injury during the World Cup, Youri Tielemans to Manchester United, Ezri Konsa to Arsenal, Ollie Watkins to Al-Hilal, and Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Martinez to Chelsea. The spine of the squad was ripped out.
With a raft of outgoings and incomings, there was always going to be a period of transition. A time where the new players need to get up to speed with new teammates and the demands that come with working under a new manager. This, of course, is reflected in Villa’s league position.
Aston Villa upgraded on Ollie Watkins this summer
After the opening six games, Villa sit 16th with just five points to their name. In truth, it mirrors their start to the 2025/26 campaign, where they earned six points across the same period. That said, this is new ground for Emery and Villa. Such squad upheaval was always going to present teething issues.
And while Taylor Harwood-Bellis isn’t of the same standard of Konsa, and Joao Gomes is a different profile to Tielemans, there’s an argument to be made that Villa upgraded in the final third.
Nicolas Jackson moved to Chelsea in 2023. The Senegal international had enjoyed a fruitful second season in Spain with Villarreal, where he scored 12 and provided four assists despite starting just 16 league matches. A direct goal involvement every 100 or so minutes was a solid return.
It’s fair to say that Jackson’s Stamford Bridge spell didn’t go quite according to plan. Granted, across two Premier League seasons, he bagged 24 goals and provided 10 assists. However, ill-discipline marred his time in west London. A loan stint with Bayern Munich hardly did the 25-year-old many favours. Well, when you’re playing second fiddle to Harry Kane, that’s to be expected.
Even so, eight goals and one assist across 1004 minutes of Bundesliga action is not to be scoffed at. However, Jackson never really looked quite at home in Bavaria. He needed a club where he’d be first choice to rediscover his best form, and while it’s early days yet; the Senegalese hitman looks right at home on the Villa frontline.
Filling Watkins’ boots was always going to be easier said than done. The England star scored at least 15 league goals in each of his last four seasons at Villa Park. The 30-year-old endured a tough start to the 2025/26 campaign, scoring just three league goals before Christmas, but recovered for the second half of the season, ultimately netting 16 times in his final year at the club.
Even so, Jackson has scored more goals after six league outings this season (2) than Watkins managed after his opening 13 Premier League appearances last term (1). He’s scored three times across two Champions League games for good measure, too.
The summer signing is also offering more in the final third than Watkins did in the previous campaign. That’s not to say Watkins underwhelmed last season. On the contrary, his goals and assists were vital as Villa secured a top-four finish and claimed Europa League glory at the expense of Bundesliga side Freiburg.
The difference is that Jackson offers a little more on the ball than Watkins in a key area. Whereas the latter operates as a low-touch finisher, waiting for chances in the opposition box, the former is happy to drift across the frontline, drag markers out of position and, in the process, open up space for teammates to exploit.
This is particularly effective given the signing of Johan Manzambi, the Swiss a dynamic, box crashing midfielder who has scored one and provided two assists in the league.
As such, it’s hardly a surprise that Jackson is averaging more touches per 90 this season (33.7) than Watkins was last (28). Even then, the former is only averaging marginally fewer touches inside the opposition box per 90 (5.4) than the latter in the 2025/26 campaign (5.6). Jackson may pull away to the flanks, but he’s just as active in the penalty area as his predecessor.
He’s also prepared to pull the trigger more frequently than the former Villa man, with Jackson’s shots per 90 higher (2.8) than Watkins (2.2). With more successful dribbles per 90 (2.6 to 0.8), chances created per 90 (0.9 to 0.7), passes per 90 (16.1 to 15) and a better pass success rate (80.9% to 72.7%), Emery has a more rounded forward to call upon in his favoured 4-2-3-1 setup.
Watkins’ departure was a tough one to swallow for Villa fans. He’d become a mainstay for the Midlands side following his 2020 arrival from Brentford, and a nigh-on ever-present given his impressive injury record.
Yet the departures of Tielemans, Rogers and Watkins required a tactical rethink. Emery needed a forward who’d offer the directness of Rogers and the goalscoring capability of Watkins. In Jackson, he has the best of both, affording Emery the relevant attacking flexibility that’ll amplify Villa’s offensive unpredictability, whereas with Watkins, it was a little more one-dimensional.
For that reason alone, Jackson can be viewed as an upgrade on Watkins. Time will tell if the club-record signing truly exceeds the standards set by Villa’s recent leading marksman.
