Headlines and supporter reaction to Ollie Watkins’s absence against Brighton & Hove Albion have been far more furious than understanding.

The Aston Villa striker has been offered extraordinary money by Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal, but he was wrong to refuse to play for the club that is still paying his wages.

Watkins has let down his Villa team-mates, the supporters and also Unai Emery, whose coaching and man-management helped get him back into the England squad.

Under Steven Gerrard, Watkins had begun to drift, almost trying to do too much. Emery got him to concentrate simply on the craft of finishing, and that made him more effective.

The stand-off involving Watkins is actually much more layered than the blaring headlines suggest. To understand the situation properly, it is important to step back from the raging fire of emotion and judgement.

There is no question that Villa’s dressing room now resembles one of those Agatha Christie country-house drawing rooms where characters keep vanishing: Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne, Ezri Konsa, probably Watkins and Emi Martinez. All were starters in the victorious Europa League final. All have gone or are going. It is no surprise Villa supporters are simmering with frustration, even anger.

It is fury directed at a financial regulatory system that appears designed as much to shield the elite as to promote sustainability. It is resentment towards those players whom fans feel are pursuing wealth elsewhere rather than chasing more glory with Villa. It is irritation at the domino effect: one departure makes it easier for others to start looking towards the exit. Villa fans feel rejected and annoyed because the money brought in for Rogers in particular should have helped ease UEFA Squad Cost Ratio concerns.

Above all in Watkins’s case, it is pure wrath at seeing a forward line without a striker at the Amex, and at watching Brighton tear Villa apart in the first half. Villa-related social media has looked like a wriggling pit of snake emojis. By contrast, supporters still remember James Milner’s move to Manchester City in August 2010. He gave everything in his final Villa appearance, despite knowing he was leaving, and even scored against West Ham United. Professional.

But let us pause and try to see matters from Watkins’s point of view. He is being offered levels of money to join Al-Hilal that he could never have imagined while growing up in a big Devon family largely brought up by one parent, his mother, while going out on loan to Weston-super-Mare, while struggling to establish himself as a professional, and while constantly having to prove himself. This move to the desert would secure the future of generations of the Watkins family. Can anyone really begrudge him that?

Now 30, Watkins works in a profession that can be ended suddenly and brutally by one tackle. Of course, that is unlikely. The days when centre-backs routinely went through the back of forwards are long gone. The era of top-level medical care is very much here. But the fear of a career-threatening injury still follows players in their minds, even if not always in reality. Watkins could also be forgiven for looking around the dressing room and noticing the empty spaces.

He is also, in my experience, one of the more thoughtful members of the England squad. He is among the least likely players to create controversy. He has always preferred to keep a low profile. A group of us spoke to Watkins at St George’s Park in 2023 and he stressed that he liked to stay “under the radar”. He was not on X, did not do much on Instagram and lived by the mantra of “just be good at football and the rest will take care of itself”. By “the rest”, Watkins meant sponsorships.

He said he was perfectly happy sitting among the other England players and simply listening to them. “I’m OK with silence,” Watkins said. He is quietly driven, and he has had to be as he climbed through the divisions. Watkins knows supporters can be “fickle”, as he said in 2023, explaining why he put his fingers in his ears after scoring against Chelsea following a short drought.

So he will try to shut out the noise. He will probably get what he wants. Villa say Al-Hilal have made four offers. Villa’s position has been weakened by Watkins’s refusal to play, and surely a deal now needs to be done quickly. But he could have managed this far better.

Refusing to play is never a good look, whatever may have happened or been said behind the scenes. There is also the fact that he is heading to the Saudi Pro League when he could be playing in the Champions League. He is turning away from the devoted faithful in the Holte End for the desert. He is leaving for the Kingdom Arena, with an average attendance of 20,616 — respectable enough, but nowhere near Villa Park on a packed Champions League or Premier League night. He will have Simone Inzaghi as his coach, service from Crysencio Summerville and Malcom, and competition for places from Karim Benzema and Darwin Nunez. He will get easy goals. But Ollie Watkins will no longer be a Villa legend.