Unai Emery said Aston Villa will be “very demanding” over Ollie Watkins’ future after the club rejected a bid for the striker from Arsenal on Wednesday.
It is expected Arsenal will return with an improved deal after seeing their first offer knocked back but Villa’s position is that Watkins is not for sale, which makes it unlikely a deal will be done in this window.
Watkins started and scored in Villa’s 4-2 win over Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday night, tapping the club’s badge as he celebrated his goal, while Duran was an unused substitute.
Emery confirmed after the game that he wanted to keep Watkins at Villa Park and appeared to lay down a warning to Arsenal over their pursuit of the striker ahead of Monday’s deadline.
“I don’t want [him to leave],” he told his press conference. “It is good news to have an offer from other clubs, or interest. It is good.
“But we want to keep our sporting objective through the players we have in the squad. Every player can be in the market in case it is good for the club, the player and the team but to get this deal of course we are going to be very demanding as well and Watkins is our striker.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was asked about Watkins after his side’s victory over Girona, but did not give much away. He said: “I can’t talk about any of that. My confidence is that we have an amazing club with people always working to try and improve.
“Let’s see what happens.” (SkySports)