Aston Villa Boss Unai Emery has said that Ollie Watkins wants to stay in the club, despite a strong interest from Arsenal.
Villa rejected a bid for Watkins from the Gunners of Mikel Arteta, who are looking for a striker before the transfer window closes on Monday.
Emery's side allowed Jhon Duran to join the Saudi Pro League Club Al-Nassr in a deal that is reportedly worth a maximum of £ 71 million on Friday, but hope to keep the English international for the rest of the season .
“Yes, he is happy to stay,” Emery said about Watkins, who scored his very first Champions League goal in a 4-2 victory against Celtic on Wednesday.
Watkins, who scored in the 60th minute and also helped two of the three goals of Morgan Rogers against the Scottish side, has now scored both and helped in four different Villa matches in all competitions this season, with only Mohamed Salah (9) And Bukayo Saka (6) has done this more often for a Premier League side this period.
“You can ask him, but we asked him how he feels every day, every year he has been here with Aston Villa, with us and without us,” Emery said.
Special teams. Special Games. Special player.
All 28 from Ollie Watkins' @PREMIERLEAGUE Target involvement so far this season pic.twitter.com/buksargh84
– Aston Villa (@AVFCofficial) April 9, 2024
The 29-year-old scored 81 goals in 201 matches for Villa after signing Brentford in 2020.
Watkins is also only the second villa player after Gabriel Agbonlaor to be directly involved in 100 Premier League goals (61 goals, 39 assists).
Watkins reached the century against West Ham last Sunday and only took 169 performances to do this, which is 108 less than Agbonlaor (277).
“The dedication of Watkins with us is a huge commitment. He appreciates a lot of how Villa always supported him, helped him, and when we [the current coaching staff] Is he here two years ago how we worked with him, always try to get the best of him, “said Emery.
“Now we need him, as if he needed villa. The conversation we usually have, I speak a lot with him, he always adjusts to every circumstance that we have in the team and individually with him.
“If there are a number of teams that call us that are interested in the players, it is of course very good for us and very good for the players.
“Some players prefer to leave and some players accept to stay here, to be here and to be binding with us and to be our challenge. One of them is Watkins.”
Villa, who are eighth in the Premier League with 37 points of 23 games, will be confronted on Saturday with the 18th wolves placed, which are at a loss of four games, on Saturday.
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