Unai Emery insists Ollie Watkins is happy to stay at Aston Villa this month, despite transfer interest from his boyhood club Arsenal.
Arsenal have been heavily linked with interest in Ollie Watkins this week, with reports suggesting the Gunners made a bid in the region of £40-45m on Monday.
Aston Villa quickly turned the offer down, and with Jhon Duran leaving for Al Nassr, a move for Watkins now looks very unlikely. Unai Emery certainly suggested as much on Friday.
“The commitment of Watkins with us is a huge commitment to defend Aston Villa,” Emery said.
“He appreciates a lot how Aston Villa was always supporting him, helping him. When we joined here two years ago, how we worked with him — we are always trying to get the best of him. Now we need him, like he needed Aston Villa in the last years.”
“Of course when some teams call us being interested in the players, it’s very good for us,” Emery continued. “Some players prefer to leave. Some players accept to be here and commit to us here and one of them is Ollie Watkins.
“He’s happy to stay. You can ask him but we asked him how he’s feeling every day and every year with Aston Villa and he’s happy here.”
Even before Duran’s move advanced, when Arsenal believed Watkins was available for £60m, they were unsure whether to meet that valuation.
The Gunners know they can get 21-year-old Benjamin Sesko for around the same price this summer, so investing that money in a 29-year-old striker was evidently viewed as more risky.
Yet Sami Mokbel confirmed for the Daily Mail that Watkins would be open to joining Arsenal. That’s not surprising, given he’s previously described the move to north London as “the dream” for him. It’s just that Villa now don’t seem willing to sell.
Watkins has scored 11 goals and assisted a further nine in his 32 games for Villa so far this season.