Arsenal, Chelsea warned £75m bid would be required to ‘entice’ Premier League rivals into major sale

Arsenal and Chelsea have been warned Aston Villa standout Ollie Watkins could cost around £75m during the upcoming January transfer window.

Watkins is loving life under Unai Emery at Aston Villa as he has established himself as one of the best strikers in the Premier League.

The Villans finished seventh last season to qualify for the Europa Conference League and they are now emerging as a contender for the Champions League places.

The striker has been one of the standout performers for Villa – who have won four points from behind this term – during the early weeks of this season as he has grabbed five goals and five assists in nine Premier League outings.

The 27-year-old is under contract until 2028 and he has been heavily linked with Arsenal and Chelsea ahead of the winter transfer window. 

Sunday People journalist Neil Moxley reckons “you’re going to be talking £75m-plus” if you want to sign Watkins in January.

“He is an extremely good and useful person to have spearheading your attack. I was looking at his record and, in 130 appearances for Villa, he has over 50 goals now,” Moxley told GiveMeSport.

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“He has a strike rate of 0.4, so that’s two every five games and four every 10. The top and bottom of it is he is guaranteeing you between 15 and 18 goals a season in the Premier League.

“How much do those strikers command these days, particularly at Watkins’ sort of age? He is 27, so if somebody was going to come along right this very minute and try to offer a fee to entice Ollie Watkins out of Villa Park, I think you’re going to be talking £75million-plus, if not a bit more because Villa would want to be able to source a replacement.”

Last month, with Arsenal also being linked with Ivan Toney, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano pointed out that they have “not decided” who they want to sign yet.

“My information is that Brentford know that the player wants to leave in 2024, we’ll have to see if that will be in January or next summer, but we know that Toney appointed a new agent because he wants to try a new experience at a top club,” Romano told Caught Offside.

“As I’ve mentioned before it’s only September, and we already have Toney, Osimhen, Watkins, Santiago Gimenez and probably 2/3 more strikers being linked with Arsenal. It’s too easy to put 10 names in the mix. Again, nothing is decided and nothing concrete as of now.”

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