In his latest Sky Sports column, Paul Merson assesses Aston Villa's dreadful start to the season following their heavy defeat at Brighton. Following a summer that saw them sell a spine of key players in Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers, Villa found themselves 4-0 down to Brighton after 30 minutes, and ended up losing by the same scoreline. The transfer sagas are not over at Villa - with Ollie Watkins not involved against Brighton amid interest from Saudi Arabia and goalkeeper Emi Martinez also missing the game.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player It breaks your heart to see Villa like this - I don't see Unai Emery staying. You sell all your best players, what do you expect? I didn't expect them to be 4-0 down in 30 minutes, but I didn't expect them to beat Brighton.
It's madness at the highest level. We're talking about a big, big football club that just got in the Champions League, won a European trophy - and then sold all their best players. I don't expect them to go down, of course not.
But I don't expect them to finish in the top half even with a top manager like Emery. If Emery's not fed up with this situation, then he's some person. This situation is very rare.
We saw Spurs win a European cup and finish 17th. He won the same European cup and finished fourth. I don't see Emery hanging around for long if things continue like this.
We're talking about one of the top managers in the game, and everyone seems to be leaving him left, right and centre. We're talking Aston Villa, who I played for and are a great, great club. It breaks your heart when you see what's happening.
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