Ollie Watkins’ dream Arsenal transfer move may finally come true amid Mikel Arteta links

Could Ollie Watkins be the one to help Arsenal win the Premier League? According to the Daily Mail, Mikel Arteta has allegedly been thinking about that query.

This season, the talk of recruiting a striker has taken center stage in the Emirates Stadium transfer agenda. Gabriel Jesus, who is considered the team’s starting striker, has only scored one Premier League goal, but it has stirred discussion over who the Gunners should sign.

Eddie Nketiah has chipped in when called upon but the jury remains out about whether he can fire Arsenal to a title. With recent recruitment in defensive, midfield and wide areas, a world-beating striker could prove the final piece of the jigsaw to end the 20-year Premier League drought.

A fresh report has named the usual suspects as potential targets, a la Ivan Toney and Victor Osimhen. If Gooners had a pound for every time they heard those two linked with their club…

But Watkins was also listed in the Daily Mail piece, a left-field appointment given his recent contract extension. Or is it?

“That’s the dream, to play for Arsenal one day,” he said while playing for Brentford in 2020.

“But, you know, it’s a long shot. I’m an Arsenal fan so Thierry Henry was my [idol]. He’s unbelievable to watch. He was the idol growing up really.”

What he previously described as a “long shot” is now valued at just 3/1 by most bookmakers.

Arsenal are the front-runners to sign the Villa talisman should he decide to seek pastures new next month.

Many fans and pundits view the 27-year-old as the England understudy to Harry Kane when every alternative is fit and firing.

Eight Premier League goals this season is commendable and has been essential in Villa’s resurgence under Unai Emery.

Since moving to the Premier League, Watkins has scored 15, 11, 15, and now eight goals.

He’s a proven top-tier bagsman, if not particularly prolific. But if those numbers were positioned at the top of Arsenal’s system, might they be improved?

Villa doesn’t need to sell right away thanks to the lucrative new contract, and they would expect a huge price for their top scorer.

But if the Gunners do choose to test his willpower in January, the boyhood club card might be their secret weapon.

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