Arsenal reportedly had the chance to sign Ollie Watkins last season, with the Gunners tabling a £60million offer for the Aston Villa star before ending their pursuit. And their decision not to push harder to complete the transfer now appears to make sense after Villa boss Unai Emery revealed the player has been dealing with ongoing knee pain since the start of last season.
Watkins has been one of the deadliest finishers in the Premier League in recent years and racked up 16 goals and eight assists in the top flight during the last campaign. But his form has nosedived this term and he has only found the back of the net on three occasions in all competitions this time around, although two of those strikes came on Wednesday evening as Villa travelled to Brighton.
Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher opened up about Watkins during an appearance on The Overlap in the spring. And the ex-defender explained: “When we talk about Arsenal going for him, someone told me, I think Villa offered him to Arsenal as well. I know that, actually.”
Watkins was forced to share game time with Jhon Duran during the first half of last season, with the Colombia international impressing whenever he made it onto the pitch.
Duran was sold to Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr at the end of January but has since moved to Fenerbahce on loan.
And Carragher added: “Before Duran went, they (Villa) were like, ‘We’ve probably got an offer for Duran.’ I don’t think it was Arsenal phoning Villa saying, ‘We want to sign him (Watkins).’”
Carragher was then asked by Gary Neville why Arsenal decided not to sign the Englishman. And Carragher explained: “Well they didn’t offer enough money, whatever it was, 50, 60 million.”
Arsenal’s apparent reluctance to stump up the cash for Watkins now appears to be a sensible decision, with Emery explaining ahead of his side’s clash with Brighton: “He’s keeping a small pain in his knee [from] last year when we started the season in August.
“He was feeling more or less the same pain he’s feeling now. [Back then] we needed Jhon Duran as a second striker. He scored goals and helped the team.
“Now he is feeling the same pain. He’s not feeling the 100 per cent – we are trying to manage it with him. We are trying to get him completely without pain – and through this – to feel better again, and having the confidence to score goals.
“We want him to get the best fitness, with no pain and playing consistently. For example, yesterday he did not train. We kept him inside, only with the physios, but he will be available for tomorrow. We are trying to get some moments of rest for him. He won’t have surgery. For this pain he needs rest.”
