Arsenal has expressed interest in signing Ollie Watkins this month and made an offer for the striker yesterday, coinciding with Aston Villa’s ongoing talks with Al Nassr over the potential sale of Jhon Duran. With the January transfer window closing soon, the Gunners are pushing hard to bring the 29-year-old forward to the Emirates, but the timing of their approach raises concerns.
Watkins, a lifelong Arsenal fan, has long been linked with a move to the club, and the Gunners had the entire month of January to pursue the deal. However, it has only been in the final days of the window that they made their move. This late approach, coupled with Villa’s ongoing negotiations to sell Duran to Al Nassr, makes the deal for Watkins seem unlikely.
Aston Villa, who are performing well in the Champions League and have ambitions to finish in the Premier League’s top four this season, are unlikely to part with both of their strikers in the same window. Selling Watkins would severely weaken their attacking options, especially if Duran’s move to Saudi Arabia is finalised.
(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Former footballer Ally McCoist believes Villa will not sell both strikers this month, suggesting that it would be a risky move for the club. Speaking on the BBC, McCoist said:
“You can’t sell both. What a dilemma it is.
“Emery is actually in a perfect position. He has two great strikers fighting for that position.
“Of course, one of them wants away because he wants to play more.”
It seems Arsenal may have made a mistake in waiting until the final moments of the window to make their approach for Watkins. If Villa secures a significant fee for Duran, they will have ample funds and may feel no need to sell Watkins, especially considering their ongoing push for European football.
Arsenal’s pursuit of Watkins could therefore be doomed if Villa holds firm, and the Gunners will likely have to look elsewhere for a striker if the deal falls through.
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This Watkins thing is all so confusing and frustrating to me tbh. Even for £40-45m, I’d still not think it’s a good idea.
I don’t understand what Arsenal are doing really. If the club has no intention of buying a striker in this window, I would understand. But to embark on this clearly unrealistic and unreasonable pursuit of a 30-year old player, come on.
If the club really wanted a striker, why didn’t they go for Omar Mamoush or even Watkins’ teammate, Duran?
Is this just to hoodwink the fans or…..?
I’m in a quandary. I’m sure Watkins could be a decent signing but not at his age for the fee being bandied about. The £40m offer was made at a time when a deal was possible as nothing appeared on the horizon regarding Duran
I don’t follow the academy players but the lad who came on in the final minutes of the Zagreb game is a forward. I know chucking him in the deep end isn’t ideal but he is a forward and a “body” that is available and free
I’m not sure on that purely because I’m not up to speed with all the shenanigans around FFP etc.
The Jesus injury put a spanner in the works. Saka will play again this season and he won’t. I’m pretty sure Arsenal would not have signed a forward this month, preferring to get their targets in the summer so what’s the answer? Buy Watkins if he’s available at way over market value and hope he’s the second coming? I’m not sure on that it KSE’s fault in this instance if they are backing Arteta now
Well net profit we didn’t spend much in summer
Other attackers seems to be moving.
I just think they should be doing everything to give us the best chance of winning something and clearly they are not
When a car is not functioning properly , rather than buying a new vehicle which might strain your finances, you might only need a simple component to solve the problem ,at least in the short term.There are plenty of new spark plugs out there which will not break the bank and will keep us purring along until we are in a position to buy our coveted Rolls Royce.
Dan
Apart from Grandad’s excellent analogy, how much is acceptable to pay for a player now, considering every club knows our predicament? The original £40m for Watkins or heaven knows how much for the player of Arteta’s choice?
Great analogy Grandad. The most troubling thing to me about this situation is apparently not being able to find some of those new spark plugs that are ready to spark. I wouldn’t expect it to necessarily always be easy to do but would expect it to be something our big club could handle and be well prepared for.
Exactly as he says!!!!
This Watkins thing is all so confusing and frustrating to me tbh. Even for £40-45m, I’d still not think it’s a good idea.
I don’t understand what Arsenal are doing really. If the club has no intention of buying a striker in this window, I would understand. But to embark on this clearly unrealistic and unreasonable pursuit of a 30-year old player, come on.
If the club really wanted a striker, why didn’t they go for Omar Mamoush or even Watkins’ teammate, Duran?
Is this just to hoodwink the fans or…..?
Watch Arsenal sign Rashford on deadline day.. typical Arsenal 🙁
Better then nothing
We need bodies
Go to the mogue, you’ll find a lot of them. And you won’t pay millions for them 🤣😂
I’m in a quandary. I’m sure Watkins could be a decent signing but not at his age for the fee being bandied about. The £40m offer was made at a time when a deal was possible as nothing appeared on the horizon regarding Duran
I don’t follow the academy players but the lad who came on in the final minutes of the Zagreb game is a forward. I know chucking him in the deep end isn’t ideal but he is a forward and a “body” that is available and free
And that doesn’t make you question our owners ?
I’m not sure on that purely because I’m not up to speed with all the shenanigans around FFP etc.
The Jesus injury put a spanner in the works. Saka will play again this season and he won’t. I’m pretty sure Arsenal would not have signed a forward this month, preferring to get their targets in the summer so what’s the answer? Buy Watkins if he’s available at way over market value and hope he’s the second coming? I’m not sure on that it KSE’s fault in this instance if they are backing Arteta now
Well net profit we didn’t spend much in summer
Other attackers seems to be moving.
I just think they should be doing everything to give us the best chance of winning something and clearly they are not
Struggling to convince myself that we are serious about our targets, and I rather think not.
Even for anything above 25 million, there’s everything wrong with the Watkins pursuit.
@Dan: You really have some sense of humor about the need for bodies …. we already have a huge stock of them I thought
When a car is not functioning properly , rather than buying a new vehicle which might strain your finances, you might only need a simple component to solve the problem ,at least in the short term.There are plenty of new spark plugs out there which will not break the bank and will keep us purring along until we are in a position to buy our coveted Rolls Royce.
Strain your finances ?
We got the money mate
Dan
Apart from Grandad’s excellent analogy, how much is acceptable to pay for a player now, considering every club knows our predicament? The original £40m for Watkins or heaven knows how much for the player of Arteta’s choice?
Great analogy Grandad. The most troubling thing to me about this situation is apparently not being able to find some of those new spark plugs that are ready to spark. I wouldn’t expect it to necessarily always be easy to do but would expect it to be something our big club could handle and be well prepared for.
This is such a dilemma. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Wait until Summer to get our ideal target, or pay big bucks now.
Fans are so divided on this.
I don’t mind paying the big bucks if it’s for the right player – young,good, with prospects and future value