In order to finalise a January deal, an Aston Villa striker—not Ollie Watkins—is scheduled for a medical. Watkins was included in the starting lineup for Villa’s Champions League match against Celtic, even though the club rejected an offer of £60 million from Arsenal earlier this week. As an avid supporter of Arsenal, the 29-year-old has acknowledged that playing for the Gunners would be an absolute dream. That would imply that he is amenable to a transfer, but Villa and Unai Emery don’t seem to share that sentiment, since Jhon Duran is also drawing a lot of interest this month.
The Saudi Pro League team Al-Nassr and Chelsea have both been linked to a move for the 21-year-old, and it appears that the latter is getting close to signing him. The Athletic’s David Ornstein reports that Duran will undergo a medical examination in London on Thursday prior to finalising a £64 million (€77 million) transfer.
Emery is not expected to approve both transactions, which would indicate that Arsenal needs to work hard on Watkins. With Victor Boniface of Bayer Leverkusen as their backup, Al-Nassr is acting swiftly to get a striker as the Saudi Arabian transfer market ends on Thursday, January 30. Based on that, Duran might still be at Villa Park, which would allow Arsenal to officially sign Watkins. Villa may not have a better time to sell than now, despite their insistence that they do not want to, considering his age, form, and contract status. Additionally, Duran is obviously a ready-made successor, so if one were to leave, the other would be assured of regular minutes going forward. But Villa
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