Aston Villa struck gold on Smith signing who’s worth £33m more than Luiz

Last season, The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell claimed that Douglas Luiz has risen to a position as “one of the Premier League’s standout midfielders“, with his efforts in the centre of the park essential to Aston Villa’s stunning top-four finish.

Luiz has been a part of the framework at Villa Park for five years, signed from Manchester City as a 21-year-old for a £15m fee in 2019. He has since chalked up 204 appearances, scoring 22 goals, assisting 24 more.

Villa, by Unai Emery’s design, have played on the rich soil of European competition and now ascend to a place at the most eminent table, a position among the elite of the elite.

Emery blended talent with tenacity and tactical wherewithal to create this system, of such fluency, of such fervour, and Luiz was front and centre. Ten goals and ten assists apiece last term. The general in the middle, the pace-setter, mood-maker.

Alas, he’s on the way out. The urgency to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability (PSR) rules has pushed him toward Turin, with Juventus signing the Brazil international and allowing talented duo, Enzo Barrenechea (deep midfielder) and Samuel Iling-Junior (young English winger) to head to Villa Park.

Valued at €50m (£42m) in total during the process, Luiz departs a key member of Villa’s rise, however, there’s actually another Lions star valued far higher than the 26-year-old.

What Aston Villa paid for Ollie Watkins

In the summer of 2020, Dean Smith’s Aston Villa had survived by a whisker on their return to England’s top flight and looked to strengthen considerably, pushing upwards.

The 2019 signing of Wesley Moraes for £22m had not worked out – the Brazilian scored five goals from 21 matches before tearing his ACL – and so Villa moved for Brentford talisman Ollie Watkins, who had just completed a 26-goal campaign in the Championship.

Joining from the Bees in a club-record deal rising to £33m, Watkins has been immense at Villa Park, going from strength to strength and invariably providing his club with a steady goal threat – though his influence stretches far beyond his sharp shooting boots.

He’s not been too shabby since moving to the Midlands, has he? In fact, Watkins has claimed the club’s top goalscorer award in each of his four campaigns since leaving Brentford.

Four excellent seasons, but the one just concluded is undoubtedly Watkins’ best yet, having truly established himself as one of the Premier League’s leading players.

Ollie Watkins’ 23/24 season in numbers

Last season, Watkins thrived as the spearhead of Emery’s system, with his exploits in claret proving to be instrumentally important to Champions League qualification.

Across 53 appearances in all competitions, the 28-year-old scored a whopping 27 goals, adding 13 assists in the Premier League to boot.

As per FBref, he ranks only among the top 20% of centre-forwards across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for goals scored and the top 29% for shots taken per 90, speaking of his prolific quality.

Moreover, he ranks among the top 3% for assists per 90, with his dynamism and many-angled weaponry making him a “nightmare to play against”, according to Leicester City’s Conor Coady.

£33m for a player untested in top-flight football always carries an element of risk to it, but Smith and Co saw something special in the versatile Englishman and made their move. It has paid off most wonderfully for the upwardly developing club.

Especially given his staggering market valuation, some £33m more than Luiz, who is also one of the glowing members of the Aston Villa squad – for the next few days, anyway.

Ollie Watkins’ market value

Watkins signed a new contract in October 2023 that extends his stay at Villa Park until the end of the 2027/28 campaign. While some high-profile suitors have been sniffing around of late, he would cost an arm and a leg to prise away from Emery’s project.

Ensconced in the early stage of a lucrative, £130k-per-week new deal and having never fired with greater surety than this past year, Watkins is deservedly one of the most marketable and expensive players in the Aston Villa squad.

Football Transfers mark him as the most lucrative player in the Villan squad, with such a number-crunching claim corroborated by GIVEMESPORT, who revealed during the 2023/24 season that the Arsenal-linked striker would only be allowed to leave for £75m-plus.

This stance is unlikely to have changed, with Watkins expected to lead the club into a new era among Europe’s elite. The security of Champions League football has made it hard to convince Emery that he should be sold. And he won’t.

While he cost a pretty penny four years ago, this £75m price tag means that his value has actually risen by a jaw-dropping 127%, even though he once had the tag of Villa’s club-record signing.

Villa have well and truly hit the jackpot on Watkins. While it would be ludicrous to cash in on their focal frontman this season despite lingering concerns surrounding PSR, the mere fact that the notion of a sale never crept from Villa Park suggests that Emery’s stance is unequivocal.

And rightly so. He might be head and shoulders above fellow high-profile Villans such as Luiz, but he’s the cream of the crop and must be allowed to spearhead the side in the Champions League, only a few months from now.