Watford have reportedly withdrawn their interest in Kieran Gibbs because Arsenal are asking for £16m.

Watford allegedly aren’t willing to meet Arsenal’s £16m valuation of Gibbs and have apparently withdrawn their interest in the left-back as a result.

The Hornets manager, Marco Silva, wanted the 27-year-old to strengthen his squad but considering he’s only got a year left on his contract and is a fringe player at Arsenal, the Daily Mail claims that the manager is refusing to meet his asking price.

At the end of July, the Mirror insisted that Watford were in ‘advanced talks’ over bringing Gibbs on board but whatever discussions were supposedly taking place appear to have now broken down.

West Brom were reportedly previous favourites and were even said to have made a £10m bid, which Arsenal rejected. However, Tony Pulis later claimed that the Baggies wouldn’t be signing the defender.

Kieran Gibbs and Danny Welbeck
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 28: Danny Welbeck of Arsenal celebrates with Kieran Gibbs after scoring his sides first goal during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Southampton and Arsenal at St Mary’s Stadium on January 28, 2017. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Are Arsenal demanding too much?

While Gibbs is 27, he’s got less than 12 months on his contract and is injury prone.

Last season, he made just 22 appearances across all competitions and now that Sead Kolasinac has been signed from Schalke, Gibbs looks even less likely to feature.

The Gunners reportedly want to offload up to eight players this summer and Gibbs, who joined Arsenal at the age of 14, is one of them.

However, if the club set their asking price too high, no one will sign him and he’ll end up leaving for free next summer, which would leave Arsenal in an even worse position than if they had just lowered his fee.

Newcastle have also been linked.