Arsenal handed fresh Ollie Watkins transfer chance as Aston Villa join race for potential replacement option

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Arsenal have received a boost in their pursuit of Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins.

The Gunners are desperately looking to recruit a forward in the remaining few days of the transfer window, as they look to address the shortages in their squad in this area.

Villa have rejected a £60 million bid for Watkins from Arsenal, although the North Londoners are expected to return with an improved offer.

The West Midlands club are said to be reluctant to sell their star striker, but new reports have emerged which could alter this stance.

• READ MORE: Inside the life of Ollie Watkins, the Arsenal fan who became a striker transfer target

Aston Villa join race to sign Arsenal target Mathys Tel

Arsenal have been weighing up their options in the transfer market, considering various different profiles of attacker.

Mathys Tel is a target for Arsenal, with the Gunners interested in prying the 19-year-old away from Munich and to N5.

However, with competition for Tel rife, it appears attentions have turned to 29-year-old Watkins.

With Jhon Duran likely to join Al-Nassr, Villa aren’t understood to be willing to sanction Watkins’ departure.

A new update has now emerged that could prompt another twist in this multi-layered tale.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Villa have entered the race to sign Tel, who is the subject of interest from seven different clubs.

Tel is reportedly keen to play regular first team football, and wouldn’t be guaranteed this at Villa Park with Watkins available to Unai Emery.

However, if Villa were to sell Watkins to Arsenal, they have a significantly more appealing proposal to make to the Bayern Munich man.

This could open the door for Arsenal to seal the deal for Watkins.

Watkins is eager to join Arsenal, meaning personal terms likely wouldn’t be an issue, and all the Emirates hierarchy would have to do to enact the acquisition is agree a fee with Villa.

Watkins and Tel’s statistics compared

While Villa’s interest in Tel is good news for Arsenal’s pursuit of Watkins, there is the question of whether the Gunners should actually just be targeting the former instead.

Tel has played second fiddle to Harry Kane at the Allianz in the last 18 months, but still managed to score seven goals and register five assists in just six Bundesliga starts last campaign.

Meanwhile, Watkins enjoyed a productive season in the Premier League in 2024/25, contributing to 32 goals.

In terms of the underlying data, Tel takes more shots than Watkins per 90 minutes, although the Villa man accumulates more expected goals.

This points to Watkins’ shot selection being more mature, while it also indicates that the Englishman’s goal-scoring exploits are more sustainable.

Creatively, Watkins offers more than Tel, as reflected in the key passes and assists metrics.