The north London club are considering making a second offer for England international Watkins after seeing their opening £60m bid rejected by Aston Villa.
Arsenal are believed to have made the bid at the start of the week but the news only broke on Wednesday evening, just hours before Aston Villa’s Champions League clash against Celtic.
Mikel Arteta is desperate to sign a new striker before the transfer deadline as he looks to fire Arsenal to Premier League – and perhaps even European – glory in the second-half of the season.
Watkins, one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the Premier League over the past three seasons, would certainly be an upgrade on Kai Havertz, while Gabriel Jesus will miss the rest of the campaign through injury.
Petit insists Watkins would do perfectly well at the Emirates Stadium but believes Arsenal are only pursuing the 29-year-old out of ‘panic’ at the back-end of the transfer window.
Arsenal were linked with a number of other strikers earlier in the month and Petit reckons his former club would ‘prefer’ to sign Alexander Isak or Victor Osimhen.
The Gunners expressed interest in signing Isak – who has scored 18 goals in his last 18 games – but have been put off by Newcastle United’s stunning valuation which stands at over £100m.
Osimhen, meanwhile, has been repeatedly linked with a move to the Premier League over the past 18 months and almost joined Arsenal’s London rivals Chelsea last summer.
‘The potential signing of Ollie Watkins to Arsenal feels like a bit of a panic buy,’ Petit, speaking at the new Sports Betting Lounge at Grosvenor Casino Luton, told Metro.
Emmanuel Petit speaking at the new Sports Betting Lounge at Grosvenor Casino Luton
‘He wasn’t the first-choice target, but with the January transfer window nearing its end, Arsenal have had to act.
‘I’m fairly certain Arsenal would have preferred a different striker. That being said, I do like Watkins as a player.
‘He is highly competitive, has a strong desire to score goals and provide assists, and brings real energy to the attack.
‘He would add a physical presence to Arsenal’s forward line, and with his pace, he offers something different.
‘However, there would have been a few names ahead of Ollie Watkins that Arsenal wanted.
‘Alexander Isak possesses everything Arsenal would want and need in an out-and-out striker.
‘I think Victor Osimhen would also have been on the list, but perhaps his personality and character could have been a problem going forward for Arsenal.’
Discussing Arsenal’s need for new signings more generally, Petit added: ‘I think Arsenal are struggling when it comes to squad depth and options.
‘Mikel Arteta is finding it difficult to field a strong starting eleven every three days. They need to make signings to strengthen the squad and increase competition for places.
‘I hope Arsenal have shown they possess the mental strength and consistency required to challenge Liverpool for the Premier League.
‘However, my biggest concern is the depth of the bench. When key players from the spine of the team are missing – like we saw when Martin Odegaard was out – the team struggles, and they simply aren’t the same side.
‘That’s why I think Arsenal need to sign another creative midfield player—when Odegaard isn’t there, someone needs to step in to link the midfield and attack.
‘Right now, there’s no comparison between Arsenal and Liverpool in terms of squad depth. Liverpool have a wealth of options and a much stronger overall squad.’
Watkins, who scored in the Euro 2024 semi-final, has previously said it would be a ‘dream’ to play for Arsenal, the club he supported growing up.
But Aston Villa are expected to resist any further advances from the Gunners, with manager Unai Emery confirming he wants the striker to stay at the club.
‘I don’t want [him to leave],’ he told his press conference after Villa’s Champions League win over Celtic.
‘It is good news to have an offer from other clubs, or interest. It is good. But we want to keep our sporting objective through the players we have in the squad.
‘Every player can be in the market in case it is good for the club, the player and the team but to get this deal of course we are going to be very demanding as well and Watkins is our striker.’
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