Aston Villa have made a second bid for Emile Smith Rowe, and it’s possibly even more ridiculous than their first one.

Just under two weeks ago, Aston Villa made an opening bid for Emile Smith Rowe of just £25m. Arsenal immediately rejected it, insisting they have no intention of selling as they try to renew the midfielder’s contract.

David Ornstein reports for The Athletic that Villa have now returned with a £30m bid for Smith Rowe, which has also been rejected. Once again, Arsenal are adamant the player is not for sale.

There hasn’t been a breakthrough in contract talks just yet, and Villa aren’t dropping their pursuit of the player, but Arsenal are refusing to entertain any advances for the 20-year-old.

Arguably, the £30m bid is more insulting than the opening bid was. At least Villa could claim ignorance to Arsenal’s stance when the £25m bid came in.

They now know that amount is nowhere near enough to convince the Gunners to sell, and they’ve upped their bid by a measly £5m.

It’s not like Arsenal’s pursuit of Ben White, for example, where Arsenal bid £40m, found out Brighton’s valuation was closer to £50m, and subsequently offered £45m plus £5m add-ons. That’s a normal negotiation searching for a compromise.

Villa offered £25m and had it laughed off, with sources suggesting Arsenal want more than triple that, and they’ve come back with £30m. So they’ve closed the gap in valuations by less than 10%.

James Benge now reports that it would take “far more” than £30m for Arsenal to sell.

I can only hope Arsenal have treated this new bid with the derision it deserves and made it clear to Villa they are actively damaging their relationship with us by putting in such pathetic offers.

As for Smith Rowe, Arsenal need to get his contract sorted and signed so we can all stop wasting time on this nonsense.