'New bid' - Aston Villa braced for £60m-rated star striker as Arsenal gear up bold summer transfer raid

Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal are believed to be preparing a new and improved summer bid for highly-rated Aston Villa star Ollie Watkins.

Arsenal have made no secret of their desire to sign the England international and had submitted a bold £60m offer to sign the Villa Park fan favourite in the final days of the January transfer window.

The Gunners are in the market to sign further competition to Kai Havertz upfront and are short on attacking options after Gabriel Jesus sustained an ACL injury.

However, Villa, after already agreeing to sell starlet Jhon Duran to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr for £65m earlier in the window, quickly declined the offer for Watkins and rebuked the timing of the proposal which came just days before the closure of the winter window, giving the club very little time to scour the market for a replacement.

Why Arsenal are interested in Ollie Watkins

For the last two seasons, Arsenal have been the second best team in English football behind Manchester City - and at this stage of the season they look destined to once again settle for silver in the Premier League behind runaway leaders Liverpool.

Arsenal’s need for a striker has been one of the great talking points among pundits in recent windows with the likes of Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres and even Ivan Toney being linked with moves to the Emirates over the last 18 months. However, the name thought to be at the top of Arsenal’s list and the most within their price range is Ollie Watkins. Watkins, who had already proven himself as a solid goalscorer at Championship level with Brentford, first arrived at Villa in September 2020 for a then club-record fee of £33m.

The Torquay-born forward has since gone on to score an impressive 81 goals from 202 matches in a Villa shirt and has regularly been among the top scorers in the division. Watkins is renowned for his pace, speed and intelligent runs in behind, he is brilliant at stretching defences and has excellent composure in the final third which allows him to score all types of different goals. He is Aston Villa’s second highest scorer in the Premier League era and is just four away from going level with Gabriel Agbonlahor in almost half the number of appearances. Watkins with 35 assists is also great at linking up with players around him and helping them excel in a partnership.

Are Arsenal likely to sign Ollie Watkins?

Former Aston Villa scout Mick Brown, who played a role in enticing Ollie Watkins to Villa Park, expects Arsenal to return to the table for the England international.

He told Football Insider: “I’m a huge fan of Ollie Watkins. “I kept on about getting him when I was at Villa and eventually they made it happen. One of the reasons for that is he’s happy to make runs in behind. There are too many strikers now who want the ball to feet and drop into midfield.

“But Watkins likes to spin in behind, drift out wide and he’s very direct with his play.That’s what Arsenal will have looked at, because he’s a different sort of striker to Kai Havertz and would offer them something different to lead the line. Villa turned down the move in January because they’d already let Duran go, so to lose both of their key strikers was a complete non-starter. And the timing of it as well, there was no way that bid would’ve been accepted at that stage.”

“I do think, though, they’ll revisit the move in the summer because he is a player Arsenal want and one they’ve been looking at for a long time. So that situation will be one to keep an eye on and I’d expect Villa would be more open to his exit in the summer when they have more time to bring in a replacement.”

Watkins is currently under contract at Aston Villa until 2028 and has shown no signs of wanting to leave the West Midlands club at this stage. However, it is worth noting that the 29-year-old is a lifelong Arsenal supporter, which could entice the Gunners to pull at his heartstrings later down the road.

In a previous interview earlier in his career before joining Villa, Watkins said: “That’s the dream, to play for Arsenal one day. But, you know, it’s a long shot. “I’m an Arsenal fan so Thierry Henry was my [idol] he’s unbelievable to watch. He was the idol growing up really.”