Aston Villa told Emery favourite would ‘bite your arm off’ to join Chelsea this summer
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins would jump at the chance to swap Villa Park for Chelsea in the summer transfer window, according to Glen Johnson.
The England international contributed 19 goals and 13 assists in 37 Premier league appearances last term for Unai Emery’s side as they secured a top-four finish and Champions League football next term.
Chelsea, on the other hand, had a poor campaign last campaign but rescued it slightly towards the end of the season as Mauricio Pochettino led them on a good run to finish sixth in the Premier League.
That secured them European football and something to build on under new boss Enzo Maresca and former Liverpool and Chelsea defender Johnson reckons Watkins would leave Aston Villa for the Blues if given the chance.
Johnson told Betfred: “If he got the opportunity to sign for Chelsea I think he’d bite their arm off.
“Aston Villa had a great season and qualified for the Champions League, but Chelsea’s still Chelsea and I’m sure they’ll bounce back. Ollie would definitely improve them and I can definitely see that deal happening.
“I can see reasons for why he’d stay at Villa and for why he’d move to Chelsea. He didn’t get a lot of gametime at the Euros but when he got onto the pitch, England looked like a better team.”
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In a separate interview with Paddy Power, Johnson insists that Maresca needs to “get rid of the dead wood” at Chelsea in order to move forward.
Johnson said: “There’s been so much change over the years at Chelsea and the only person who can say who will leave is the manager [Enzo Maresca]. They’re signing new players now so you would assume that they’re going to be part of the set up.
“We can’t see what people are doing in training, so the manager needs to find out which players are pulling in his direction, who are the good characters to have around the dressing room. The new guys should be a part of it, otherwise there’s no point signing them. Maresca needs to get to grips with the squad he has, get rid of the dead wood who don’t want to be there and older players who might want to leave.”
On Conor Gallagher, who has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge, Johnson added: “Conor Gallagher is a guy who knows the club inside out, a local boy who works his socks off. He’s one of Chelsea’s few highlights throughout the season, so I don’t think he should be someone who should even be spoken about leaving – I’d do my best to keep him.
“Chelsea need to get back to finding their core. All these top teams have the core, four to six players who don’t change, whereas Chelsea is changing all the time. You can’t build the foundations like that when people are playing bit-part seasons for nine months. The manager needs to find their core character who is the first name on the team sheet every week. If he can do that, I can see them climbing up the table – but when you’re chopping and changing all the time, it’s so hard to gain momentum.”
