Arsenal have reignited their interest in Ollie Watkins amid claims that the striker is unhappy with his role at Aston Villa following recent team selections.
The Gunners have had problems scoring goals regularly following injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus. Both Havertz and Jesus have been ruled out for the rest of the season, with the latter out for the foreseeable future with an ACL rupture. In addition, Bukayo Saka also spent more than three months on the sidelines following a hamstring surgery.
This has forced Mikel Arteta to use Mikel Merino as a makeshift striker. While Merino has surprisingly performed well in that role, the Spaniard is not the long-term solution to the club’s problems. Thus, the North Londoners are scouring the market for a new striker.
Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has reportedly re-emerged on the radar of Arsenal ahead of the summer transfer window. Arsenal did make a January bid for Watkins, which Villa quickly rebuffed. They were disappointed with the timing of the bid as Villa were contemplating whether to sell Jhon Duran to Saudi Arabia or not.
Eventually, they decided to sell Duran to Al-Nassr and Watkins stayed put. However, a niggling injury combined with loss of form saw the England international lose his starting XI berth. He was on the bench during the second-leg of a 5-4 loss to PSG in the Champions League earlier this month.
With Emery preferring to use Marcus Rashford up top in recent games, Watkins may push for a summer exit from Villa Park.
Alan Hutton wants Watkins to stay at Villa amid Arsenal links
Former Aston Villa defender Alan Hutton is hoping that Watkins stays put at Villa Park for “long-term” amid reports of Arsenal reviving their interest in the player.
“Look, he’s an Arsenal fan, isn’t he? I think everybody kinda knows that, so there was interest there. I think it’s a position that Arsenal need to fill, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they kind of looked at him,” Hutton told Football Insider.
“But, I think as a player, especially at a club like Aston Villa at this moment, where you’re chasing top four, you’re playing the Champions League, you need competition. He had it with Jhon Duran and earlier on in the season, so I think that makes you better, makes you produce your best football.
“And of course, you’re going to be unhappy, everybody wants to play in the big games and when I didn’t see his name on the team sheet against PSG, you’re thinking right, okay, he’s probably going to be a little bit upset because I would be but, he showed the right reaction.
“He comes in against Newcastle, has a great performance, and that’s what you want. You want everybody pushing each other; that’s how you get to the highest levels in your team and in your career.
“So I would hope he would stay, right? You don’t want anybody kind of throwing their toys out of the pram and wanting to jump ship just because you’ve sat out a few games.
“He’s not that character, but I like to see that fight that’s within him. So hopefully he stays long term and they can build because, Villa for me, at this moment time they’re just headed up the way. They’ll want to add to what they already have to maintain that level.”
I am Rohan Sengupta from one of the busiest cities in India, Mumbai. A Journalism graduate with a keen interest in sports, football is something I simply cannot live without and writing, discussing and analyzing the game is what I do 24*7.
