- 15 hours ago
Arsenal get ‘CRAZY’ Watkins message as striker transfer confirmed
Robin Bairner
- 31 Jan 2025 08:55 GMT
- 3 min read
Arsenal’s intention to make another approach to Aston Villa over Ollie Watkins has been confirmed by Fabrizio Romano.
Mikel Arteta’s side, though, have been told that it will take a “crazy bid” for the Birmingham club to even consider selling the England international.
ARSENAL TRANSFER NEWS TODAY: Nypan decision amid new €50m battle
Current ETV
Ollie Watkins
F (C)
Aston Villa
Ollie Watkins
F (C)
Aston Villa
ETV Range
€43.9M - €73.1M
The Gunners have already lodged one bid with Villa for Watkins, but this was swiftly knocked back by the Champions League outfit.
Unai Emery’s side have already agreed a €77 million deal for Colombia international striker Jhon Duran to move to Al-Nassr, and while losing one of their superstar front two was always possible during the January transfer window, allowing both to depart was unthinkable for a side that booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League this week with a 4-2 win over Celtic.
Romano says that Arsenal do not appear to have been put off by this logic, though, and are ready to revisit Watkins in a desperate attempt to find a centre-forward who can help fire them towards the title.
“Arsenal want Ollie Watkins but they’ve had their first bid rejected. Aston Villa insist they want to keep the player. Unai Emery told the board that he absolutely wants Watkins to stay. Arsenal would have to do something very big, almost crazy, to get him. Otherwise, they’ll look at different targets,” Romano said on his YouTube channel.
FABRIZIO ROMANO TRANSFER UPDATE: NEW Tel bid, CRAZY Arsenal offer, Dorgu DELAY
Emery wants to add to his squad – not lose it
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery wants to see his team strengthened in the closing hours of the transfer window, which shuts on 3 February, rather than depleted.
The Villans are studying several tracks, Romano has confirmed.
They are one of a number of clubs with an interest in Bayern Munich attacker Mathys Tel and have added PSG’s Marco Asensio to their shortlist, but neither is the dream addition.
“Villa had more contact with Joao Felix, a player that Unai Emery loves. They’ve been discussing him since the beginning of the week,” Romano says.
“Joao Felix has the same agent as Marco Asensio at PSG. He could leave in the final days of the transfer window. Aston Villa made a call today to understand the conditions of a deal from PSG. Asensio is for sure on their list. Mathys Tel is a desire but it depends on what the player wants to do.”
