Ollie Watkins to Arsenal: ‘Aston Villa to consider new £70m-plus transfer offer’
Aston Villa will have to consider an offer worth more than £70million from Arsenal for striker Ollie Watkins, according to a Sky Sports pundit.
With less than a week to go until the January transfer window closes, the Gunners are making moves as they look to secure a much-needed new attacking option for Mikel Arteta.
On Wednesday (29 January), it emerged that Villa had rejected a bid of £60million from the North London side for Watkins.
Now though, Clinton Morrison believes that a further £10million or more on that offer from Arsenal could convince Villa to sell given he is now 29, even with Jhon Duran looking set for a move to Al Nassr (The Athletic).
Speaking about the Gunners’ move for Watkins on Sky Sports Soccer Special prior to the 4-2 win over Celtic (29 January, 7:52pm) the former Republic of Ireland international said: “Of course he’ll solve their [Arsenal’s] problems, he’s that out-and-out striker…
“I don’t think Arsenal have that. When you play against Arsenal they’re not predictable because Arsenal are talented, but they don’t have centre-forwards who can run in behind.
“Kai Havertz and everyone wants to come to the ball, only [Bukayo] Saka and [Gabriel] Martinelli want to go in behind. If you have a number nine who wants to go in behind he stretches the pitch, it allows the likes of [Martin] Odegaard to get on the ball and make things happen.
“Villa won’t want to lose Ollie Watkins, he’s so key to them. I think he’s ahead of Jhon Duran at the moment, I do like Duran, even though Duran’s younger. I think both should stay at Villa.
“And that’s being an ex-Birmingham player saying that, both players should stay there… they’ve got a very good manager in Unai Emery and I think they’re only gonna improve.
“There’s talk of Duran maybe going to Al Nassr. Well for a young person like that maybe you need to stay in the Premier League, the best at the moment.
“Ollie Watkins, at 29, it depends what Arsenal come with. If Arsenal come with a £70million – £80million bid, even higher, it’s gonna get Aston Villa thinking because once he gets beyond 30 no-one else might not come in for that much money and then you might struggle to sell him.”
Arsenal shouldn’t be allowed Ollie Watkins if Jhon Duran leaves Aston Villa
Football Insider Verdict
It seems increasingly likely that Duran will be leaving Villa before the window closes, much to the frustration of the club’s supporters.
As a result, Unai Emery’s side simply cannot afford to let Watkins go in the coming days regardless of how much Arsenal offer for him.
Doing so would leave Aston Villa without an established and proven centre-forward option and just days remaining in the transfer window to find at least one.
Other clubs would not make it easy for them to do that, especially with the knowledge of how much money they have to spend from these sales meaning they could demand over the odds prices.
Duran’s seemingly impending exit means Villa cannot take the risk of selling Watkins to Arsenal now, when considering how short it could leave them on proven attacking firepower.
With that mind, those at the Emirates Stadium perhaps ought to be left wondering why they took so long to make a move such as this, when the need for a striker has been obvious for some time.
In other news, Tim Sherwood admitted he was disappointed for one Arsenal player after what happened against Girona.
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