This story is updated as of 17 September 2026 with Unai Emery’s latest comments on Aston Villa’s dealings with Chelsea. The Villa manager has again been asked about the volume of transfer business between the two clubs, and his answer leaves no doubt about how he sees the relationship. It remains fiercely competitive, not friendly, and that stance has not shifted since our original report on Unai Emery’s Chelsea admission.
Updated introduction: Unai Emery clarifies Chelsea relationship
Villa and Chelsea have exchanged some of the biggest transfer fees in the Premier League this year, and that has fuelled talk of an unusually close working relationship between the two boardrooms. Emery has moved to close that discussion down.
Speaking again about the scale of the business, he was clear that money changing hands does not mean the clubs see each other as allies. As far as Emery is concerned, Villa and Chelsea are direct rivals who happen to have done a lot of trading.
Emery rejects claims of friendly alliance with Chelsea
The suggestion of a cosy arrangement between Villa and Chelsea has followed the clubs through a busy window of transfer activity. Emery was asked directly whether the two sides had built a working partnership through their negotiations.
His answer was blunt. There is no alliance, no favour being done in either direction, and no softening of the rivalry once deals are completed. Emery framed the relationship in purely competitive terms, insisting that business on the pitch resumes exactly as it was before any transfer was signed.
That message matters to Villa supporters who have watched key players leave for Stamford Bridge. Emery’s comments make clear the club has not gone soft on a rival simply because cheques have been written both ways.
Significant transfer business between Villa and Stamford Bridge
The scale of the dealings explains why the question keeps coming up. Emiliano Martinez completed a £7.5million move from Villa to Chelsea on Sunday, ending his long spell as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper.
That followed the departure of Morgan Rogers, whose switch to Chelsea was worth £117million, one of the most eye-catching sales in Villa’s recent history. Both deals represent a significant transfer of talent, and money, from Villa Park to Stamford Bridge.
Villa have not simply sold and stood still. In the same window they signed Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho, bringing fresh attacking options into Emery’s squad. Jackson arrives with a existing relationship with his new manager, having worked under Emery previously at Villarreal.
The turnover of personnel fits a wider pattern under Emery, who has shown little sentiment when reshaping his squad. Our earlier look at Emery’s ruthless squad overhaul covered the same willingness to move on established names when he judges it right for the team.
What did Unai Emery say in his Chelsea comments?
Emery answered the question about Villa’s relationship with Chelsea in blunt, competitive terms. “They want to kill us. And we want to kill them,” he said, rejecting any idea that the two clubs had grown close through their dealings.
He went on to explain how he separates the financial side of the transfers from the football rivalry itself. Emery described the business between the clubs as “a deal for money and a deal for players,” making clear that commercial agreements do not extend to any softening of competitive intent.
Taken together, the two quotes give a clear picture of how Villa’s manager views the situation. Transfers get negotiated and completed like any other business deal, but nothing about that changes how fiercely the sides compete once the season resumes.
What happens next at Villa Park
With Martinez gone, Villa have handed the No.1 goalkeeper shirt to Zion Suzuki, promoting him into the senior role between the posts. It is a significant vote of confidence from Emery in a squad still adjusting to the departures of two long-serving players.
Villa’s rebuild has extended beyond goalkeeper. Ollie Watkins has completed a transfer to Al-Hilal, closing the chapter on a forward who spent years leading the line at Villa Park. His exit, alongside Rogers’ move to Chelsea, means Emery has had to reshape the attacking side of his squad almost from scratch.
Jackson and Garnacho now carry much of the responsibility for replacing that firepower. How quickly they settle, and how Suzuki adapts to life as first-choice goalkeeper, will shape Villa’s form as the season develops. For a club whose identity has been built up over generations, as our piece on classic Villa kits over the years shows, this transfer window marks one of the more significant turnovers of personnel in recent memory.
For now, Emery’s message to supporters is straightforward. Villa and Chelsea will keep doing business when it suits both clubs, but that has no bearing on how hard either side competes when the two eventually meet on the pitch.
