Unai Emery says only Ollie Watkins can explain why he wasn’t in the Aston Villa squad that lost 4-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion on the opening weekend of the Premier League season. “Ask him,” Emery suggested. “I only can answer it by silence.”Emery would mention “commitment” twice when responding to two other questions from Sky Sports. He also used the words “focus” and “motivation” during the same interview.Watkins has not spoken publicly about his absence but on Friday, The Athletic reported that his club had rejected a fresh offer of around £45million ($61.4m) from Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal for the 30-year-old.You do not have to be Lieutenant Frank Columbo to interpret roughly what is going on here or to appreciate — let us use a very modern football transfer term — the “direction of travel”. Suffice to say, it would be a surprise if Watkins adds to his 108 goals in 278 appearances for Villa.But will the situation get messier before that happens?By comparison, you have Julian Alvarez trying to get out of Atletico Madrid, having admitted during the World Cup that he wanted to “fulfil his dream” of an exit — most probably to Barcelona.Only last week Barcelona claimed they had moved on to other targets after Atletico refused to negotiate. Alvarez missed Atletico’s opening day victory over Malaga due to fitness, according to his manager Diego Simeone, but he was jeered when he was announced as a substitute ahead of a 2-2 draw with Villarreal on Sunday before receiving a similarly hostile reception when he was introduced midway through the second half.At the final whistle, Alvarez headed straight to the changing room, with Simeone attempting to clear up the reaction. “Staff told me that the club decided Julian should not go over with his team-mates to greet the fans, and that it was not Julian’s decision,” the Argentine told reporters.In each of the cases, the participants appear to be at different stages of separation. Simeone clearly has an interest in keeping the player or at least ensuring that he has an option of such quality available to him throughout the season, but Emery’s reluctance to communicate about the issue might suggest that he no longer sees Watkins as his responsibility. These positions conflict to some degree with the attitudes of supporters. Though a chunk of Atletico’s fanbase sounds like it has already moved on from Alvarez, surely increasing the chances of him getting what he wants, the mood is different at Villa, a club which has already lost an array of stars over the summer. If a deal for Watkins did not materialise, a rebuilding of trust would surely be as straightforward as the centre-forward scoring an important goal and everyone falling in love again.