Just In: Despite transfer commotion, Aston Villa leads Forest and Newcastle.

VILLA PARK: Aston Villa’s direct run to the Champions League round of 16 is a significant win for more than just the team,

and it might persuade Ollie Watkins that things are still going well at Villa Park, even though it isn’t exactly an underdog story.

Villa finished seventh in the league phase standings thanks to results elsewhere and a hard-fought victory over Celtic.

With injuries mounting—Matti Cash hobbled off on Wednesday night, compounding to their defense

problems—Unai Emery’s team will have a much-needed month off from playing in Europe.

That is some relief, particularly considering that rumors about Arsenal’s bid for 29-year-old Watkins

interrupted the lead-up to this game. Then, in the middle of the game, it was revealed that

Jhon Duran will be attending a physical on Thursday.

As a result, Emery was forced to answer a number of transfer-related queries after acknowledging that

Duran’s exit will benefit Villa monetarily but maintaining that he wanted Watkins to stay.

“We need to be smart and competitive because the club is working,” Emery stated. “Of sure,

other powerful teams or leagues like [Saudi] Arabia are looking at us while we are growing our

players and raising our goals while competing in the Champions League.

“I am proud of them because they are getting better. Although other clubs are interested in our players,

our goal is to maintain our structure because we want to be at the same level as other teams in sports.

Sometimes you have to sell players while also helping them grow here.