There were two phrases that Paul Tisdale often repeated to a younger version of Ollie Watkins. This is going back a few years, to a period between 2016 and 2017, when they were together at Exeter City and long before the melodrama of Watkins’ decision to cash out on Aston Villa for Saudi Arabia.The key point is that Watkins was once one of those raw, emerging talents who struggled to make the step up from the academy at a League Two club. He had pace to burn, his attitude was spotless, but the rest was a bit of a jumble – systems and structured roles were tougher for him to grasp. As the son of a woman who sang soul ballads for a living, Watkins was at his best when feeling the music. In short, he needed a manager with patience and, in Tisdale, he had one.Gradually, through many rough patches and many conversations, everything began to make more sense. And after making sense, it made money – so much money was raised from Watkins’ sale to Brentford, and again with the sell-on cash when he joined Villa, that Exeter upgraded from wooden buildings to concrete at their training ground.I remember speaking about some of this with Tisdale a couple of years ago, when that same lad was selected by Gareth Southgate to play for England at Euro 2024, and went on to score the last-minute winner in the semi-final. Tisdale’s pride was fluorescent, but he also discussed the ‘anxieties’ and ‘difficulties’ Watkins encountered along the way, and the two points he kept drumming into his player: ‘Less is more’ and ‘make yourself selectable’.Those instructions have returned to mind in the past fortnight, because Watkins wasn’t especially selectable for Villa at the start of the season. The fact that no one at the club has challenged the assumption he went on strike to force his proposed £52million move to Al Hilal seems quite revealing. For that matter, no one from Watkins’ management has disputed it either.Less is more? In our assessments of players who sell out for Saudi Arabia, I tend to see it as accepting more money for less relevance. At 30 years old, fresh off a World Cup, Watkins making that journey feels like a waste; it is his decision to make and our prerogative to be disappointed. Soulless? A little of that, too. Ollie Watkins is heading for the exit at Aston Villa after making himself unavailable for selection last weekend Watkins was once one of those raw, emerging talents who struggled to make the step up from the academy at a League Two club – in his case at Exeter CityPersonally, I see this move as the most depressing of the window, and for a variety of reasons that veer from Saudi sportswashing to the apparent death of ambition in an elite player.But Watkins isn’t a bad sort – too many well-placed sources say the exact opposite. He is a good guy, a hard worker, and unfussed by the showy options of a footballer’s life. From Exeter to Villa, he has been a grafter; one who is easy to like and admire.I have often thought the same about Villa as a club. But I would also suggest this window says more about them than Watkins.It says something about a spending policy in recent seasons that allowed a club to thrive, but also contributed heavily to the systematic dismantling of an excellent squad, in part by choice and in part by consequence of their actions.We should be clear on two things at this point – Villa did not want Watkins to go, felt no imperative to sell him, and his mind has been on Saudi possibilities for the better part of 18 months. But let’s talk about push factors. If you’re sat in that Villa dressing room, what does it tell Watkins when the likes of Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne have all gone for varying reasons in the same window?They were four of the 11 who started against Freiburg in the Europa League final three months ago. Adding the imminent departures of Emiliano Martinez and Watkins, and the spine has been torn out. For all the money spent on replacements, none of it fosters the feeling of an evolving project so much as the start of a substantial rebuild. And rebuilds take time that a 30-year-old would be less inclined to give.To study Villa’s chaotic window is to better understand a club that has needed to sell in order to buy under the constraints of spending rules imposed by the Premier League and UEFA. We might find those rules anti-competitive and weighted in favour of the status quo – hard to dispute any of that – but we cannot deny their existence. The problem there is that Villa lived fast and loose for an awfully long time. That was a choice and increasingly across the past two years the chickens have come home to roost.I remember a conversation with a key figure at a Premier League club early last year, when we were discussing Tottenham’s frugality on the subject of wage expenditure. He agreed that Spurs lacked ambition, but then pointed to the other, more dangerous extreme – Villa. The prognosis was stark, because their excellent progress under Unai Emery had also moved them closer to a financial cliff edge. Six of the 11 who started against Freiburg in the Europa League final three months ago will be gone before long Hard as it is to knock Emery, a superb coach who has done great work at Villa, we should acknowledge that he is no better than average as an operator in the transfer marketThe Deloitte Football Money League from 2025 told of a club that had the 18th biggest revenues in world football but had spent 94 per cent of their turnover on wages in two of the previous three seasons. Those absurd levels fell to 72 per cent in the 2026 report, but for context, Liverpool were at 60 per cent, Manchester City 57 per cent, Manchester United 51 per cent and Arsenal 49 per cent. Only Chelsea matched Villa’s level.Is it the cost of keeping up? Yes. Is it also a case of pride before a fall? It looks that way.Hard as it is to knock Emery, a superb coach who has done great work at Villa, we should acknowledge that he is no better than average as an operator in the transfer market. He has more say than all other Premier League managers in those matters, with the exception of Mikel Arteta, and his fingerprints exist on the deals that have left Villa churning through masses of playing staff.On balance, it was probably worth it – a European trophy and top-four finishes at home are a stunning return. Watkins, for one, owes him a lot. But we shouldn’t sugarcoat that Villa’s summer of chaos is about far more than a striker lining his own pockets.