Aston Villa sign Nicolas Jackson as Ibrahim Mbaye nears and Unai Emery responds to Ollie Watkins exit
On 29 August 2026 Aston Villa completed the signing of Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea and moved to finalise a deal for Paris Saint-Germain winger Ibrahim Mbaye during the transfer window, while manager Unai Emery addressed the departure of Ollie Watkins.
Villa have paid an initial fee of £47.5m for Jackson and expect Mbaye to cost about £47m as the club reshapes its forward line after accepting a £50m bid from Al-Hilal for Watkins; they also generated funds by selling Emiliano Martínez to Chelsea for £7.5m. Jackson and Mbaye have been longstanding targets for Emery as the club seeks to replace the England striker who declined a new contract.
The Senegal international Mbaye is 18 and a teammate of Jackson; he played 24 Ligue 1 games for PSG last season, 10 of them from the start, and was one of Villa’s preferred options to strengthen the wing position. In recent days Villa pushed to sign Rafael Leão from Milan but the Portuguese winger is poised to join Galatasaray, whom Villa will visit in the Champions League.
Jackson’s transfer could rise to a club-record £65m with add-ons; the striker spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich and will reunite with Emery, who coached him at Villarreal. The club view Jackson as the principal replacement for Watkins following the forward’s decision to join the Saudi Pro League.
“He’s been very important to me since the beginning,” Jackson said of Emery. “I’m very happy to be here and working for him again.” “With the coach, I’ve known him for a long time,” Jackson told the Aston Villa website. “With him calling me and from talking to him, he explained the project to me. I like the project so much, and that’s why I’m here. Hopefully we can do a lot of things together.”
Emery confirmed Watkins apologised to team-mates and staff after refusing to play in the 4-0 defeat at Brighton last weekend and described the forward’s behaviour as normally exemplary. “I can tell you his commitment and his behaviour was fantastic always,” Emery said. “He told us after the match he was sorry and he told us that he made a mistake, that he was wrong. We accepted it, the players as well, because he always had very good behaviour and commitment with the club, with us and with me. For me, he is a fantastic guy, an even more fantastic a guy than a player. I told him bye with a huge hug and a small tear but now it’s a new chapter here with Nicolas Jackson. A new chapter, we replace him and of course all the best to Watkins in Saudi. With Nicolas Jackson replacing him, we are of course happy.” He added that the £50m generated for Watkins, who will be 31 in December, and the fee for Konsa, who turns 29 in October, were “crazy” given their ages and said the club’s objectives remained unchanged: “We don’t want to be a club to sell players, but the responsibility is to accept it … because for the club it is a good deal. It does not change our objectives.”
Villa could hand debuts to other recent additions against the champions, with Leon Goretzka, signed from Bayern Munich on Thursday, in contention and Zion Suzuki potentially featuring after his £30m move from Parma to replace Martínez. Emery warned his side must perform much better than they did at Brighton to avoid a second successive defeat and said: “Maybe we are not performing like we were performing but the objective is to get to the same way we did, the same performances we had. We will need time. Last year we showed we needed time. On Monday we will see, [whether] we will need more time or if some players are progressing quickly.”
Chelsea’s activity at the close of the window includes closing in on Martínez and exploring a move for Monaco’s Lamine Camara while they await Manchester City to submit their first official offer for Enzo Fernández; City are yet to make contact with Chelsea over a deal for Fernández. Chelsea have Camara on a shortlist that also includes Bournemouth’s Alex Scott and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, and they have been given similar messages from Bournemouth and Palace about a reluctance to sell; Arsenal are understood to have knocked back an inquiry for Martín Zubimendi. Although there have been suggestions that a deal for Fernández will be close to £106.7m, he will only be allowed to leave if Chelsea’s terms are met and sources have warned City may have to pay more than the west London club’s initial £120m asking price for the 25-year-old.
Jackson is in line to make his debut at home against Arsenal on Monday, and Villa are finalising their approach to bring Mbaye to the club as the transfer window reaches its closing stages.