Arsenal lodged an official bid worth £60m for Ollie Watkins on Wednesday. The timing of the bid – in the hours preceding Villa’s crunch Champions League clash with Celtic – went down like a lead balloon at Villa Park.
TEAMtalk understands Villa officials reacted furiously to Arsenal’s attempt and wasted no time turning the bid down.
Watkins is a life-long Arsenal fan and would be open to making the switch. What’s more, Sky Sports reporter, Kaveh Solhekol, claims an improved bid is expected to make its way to Villa chiefs.
“It is expected Arsenal will go back in with an improved offer,” said Solhekol. “The story is a little bit complicated because Villa have two No 9s who are in demand.
“I am pretty sure Villa’s position will be that Watkins is not for sale and he has three years on his contract.”
However, Villa are on the cusp of selling their other centre-forward, Jhon Duran, to Al-Nassr. Duran has agreed a lucrative five-and-a-half year contract and passed a medical in London on Thursday morning.
An agreement on the transfer fee between the clubs worth €77m/£64.4m plus add-ons has also been sealed.
As you might expect, Aston Villa are dead set against losing Duran AND Watkins.
Accordingly, multiple top sources including Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein have confirmed Villa are unlikely in the extreme to sell Watkins to Arsenal – even if they do return with a raised offer.
Arsenal are aware their attempts to prise Watkins out of Villa Park aren’t likely to succeed. As such, the club have other irons in the fire and we can confirm they’re among the clubs who’ve opened talks to sign Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich.
The 19-year-old has the green light to leave after requesting an exit. Tel grew frustrated at his lack of action in Munich after playing second fiddle to Harry Kane.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and now Aston Villa too are also exploring a move for Tel.
Man Utd would prefer a loan deal, while Spurs and Chelsea are willing to sign Tel in a deal with a permanent solution attached – be it an outright signing or a loan that contains an option/obligation to buy.
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What type of transfer Arsenal are pursuing isn’t yet clear, though what is known is the club have opened talks with their counterparts at Bayern.
A key demand Arsenal will have to convince Tel they can satisfy is regular minutes. Tel will only join a club that make assurances over playing time – something Chelsea and Tottenham both believe they can commit to.
Tel can play on the left wing as well as centre-forward. But whether Arsenal can guarantee Tel he’ll be a regular starter with the likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz in situ, only time will tell.
And per a separate report from CaughtOffside, Arsenal have two other alternatives in mind if denied the chance to sign Watkins or Tel.
Dusan Vlahovic of Juventus and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko are the pair in question. Juve are willing to sell Vlahovic who isn’t expected to sign an extension in Turin. Vlahovic’s existing contract has less than 18 months left to run.
Juventus have also covered a potential Vlahovic exit by signing Randal Kolo Muani from PSG via the loan route.
Sesko would be more difficult to sign given Leipzig are reluctant to sell mid-season.
Arsenal along with Chelsea and Manchester United were all willing to trigger Sesko’s old £55m release clause last summer. However, the striker put pen to paper on a new deal with Leipzig on June 12 that removed the clause.
In its place is a gentleman’s agreement between club and player regarding a transfer in the summer of 2025. Leipzig have made it clear they’ll listen to offers in the €70m-€75m / £58.5m-£62.5m range, though as mentioned, there is not an official clause that can be activated.
As such, it’ll take a bid of epic proportions deemed too good to refuse before Leipzig sanction a mid-season sale.
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