Aston Villa’s summer transfer rebuild has continued with the imminent sale of Ezri Konsa to Arsenal, while Ollie Watkins and Emi Martinez could also depart in the coming days, according to BirminghamLive.
Watkins offered new deal to stay
BirminghamLive understands that Villa have offered Watkins a new deal until 2030 in a bid to persuade him to remain at the club, while they look at solutions for Martinez after signing Zion Suzuki as their new No. 1.
What all three players have in common is that they are classed as ‘Home Grown’ by the Premier League, as was the previously departed Morgan Rogers. In fact, Villa had lost two ‘Home Grown’ players from their 25-man squad just after the season ended, in Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho.
Premier League home-grown rules
Premier League rules stipulate that each squad can contain no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the ‘Home Grown Player’ criteria. The rest of the squad, up to a total of 25 players, must be ‘Home Grown’.
If Watkins and Martinez both follow Konsa out of the door, it would leave Unai Emery with the minimum number of ‘Home Grown’ players in his squad – eight. They are Tammy Abraham, Ross Barkley, Matty Cash, Ian Maatsen, Tyrone Mings, Alejandro Garnacho, Lamare Bogarde and expected new signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
However, considering there are doubts over the futures of Abraham and Bogarde with less than two weeks of the window remaining, Villa may feel they have to buy at least one more ‘Home Grown’ player to give themselves some breathing space to facilitate the sale of another ‘Home Grown’ player.
Definition of a home-grown player
A ‘Home Grown Player’ means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21). A club’s Under-21 players are not included on the 25-man squad lists and are eligible to play in the Premier League.
For the 2026/27 Premier League season, Under-21 players will have been born on or after 1 January 2005.
