Breaking: £45m Aston Villa duo prepared for shock exits as Unai Emery 'ready' to let pair depart

Aston Villa are reportedly ready to listen to offers for first-team duo Emiliano Martinez and Leon Bailey ahead of the summer transfer window.

The Villans need to make sales this summer if they are to have a transfer budget suitable for Unai Emery to make significant signings. Villa managed to narrowly remain in line with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) last summer but are again at risk of falling below the threshold of a £105 million loss over a three-year period.

Last summer’s sales of Moussa Diaby and Douglas Luiz brought in a combined £92 million, while Jhon Duran left for Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr in January for a stunning £67 million fee. You’d think that would be more than enough to confine to the rules but Villa’s huge wage bill means a tightrope still needs to be walked.

In a huge new update, Duran may not be the only player to make the move to Saudi Arabia as Martinez and Bailey are reportedly being lined up for transfers to the Middle East.

The Telegraph reports Saudi Pro League teams are targeting the Villa pair for summer deals as they seek to further build the reputation of the league. It’s claimed Villa have been weighing up whether selling Martinez and Bailey could be a solution to their PSR woes, so Emery is seemingly ready to say his farewells.

Saudi clubs have smelled blood and have lined the Villa duo up for summer approaches. It awaits to be seen just how much the Saudi teams would be willing to pay or how much Villa would demand in transfer fees, but there’s a real possibility this story could develop.

Bailey leaving wouldn’t be a huge surprise as he’s fallen down the pecking order at Villa Park this season, but if Martinez - a two-time Yashin Trophy winner - left, it would be a real shock.

Some Villa fans have grown to accept Martinez isn’t quite the same player as he was as he has endured a tough season between the sticks. This campaign, the World Cup winner has conceded 22 times from the first shot on target he has faced in games. It’s proven to be a strange but very real weakness. But not many would be glad to see him go, with a revival yearned for instead.

Bailey, signed from Bayer Leverkusen for around £25 million in 2021, has contributed just two goals and three assists in 37 appearances this season. The Jamaica international did brilliantly last term as he scored 11 goals and set up a further 13, but that form hasn’t carried over to 2024/25.

Towards the end of the winter transfer window, Bailey was heavily linked with both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Those clubs could yet rear their heads once again but a transfer to Saudi now seems likely.

In the case of Martinez, Villa would be looking to make a profit on the £20 million fee paid to Arsenal back in September 2020. The 32-year-old has made 208 appearances for the Villans to date, conceding 256 goals and keeping 66 clean sheets.

Villa have been linked this week with signing Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia for his £21 million release clause. That could have been a hint at Martinez leaving, but it seemed more likely the 23-year-old Spaniard was being targeted as a replacement for the outgoing Robin Olsen/