Arsenal target Watkins wants to stay at Villa, says Emery

Villa are believed to have rejected Arsenal's £60 million offer for Watkins on Wednesday, with reports suggesting the Gunners are ready to make another approach before Monday's transfer deadline. Arsenal want a new forward after long-term injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka.

But Villa boss Emery said on Friday that Watkins had told him he remains committed to the club he joined from Brentford in 2020. Watkins, who has 11 goals in 32 games this season, celebrated scoring in Wednesday's Champions League win over Celtic by tapping the badge on his shirt and Emery said: "Yes, he is happy to stay.

"You can ask him, but we asked him how he is feeling every day, every year he has been here with Aston Villa, with us and without us. We talked with him and he is very focused on the message we have." The lure of joining title challengers Arsenal might have persuaded Watkins to push for a move to the Emirates Stadium.

But Villa are through to the Champions League last 16 and chasing a place in the Premier League's top four, and Emery said the 29-year-old wanted to repay the club's faith in him.

"The commitment of Ollie Watkins with us is a huge commitment, he appreciates a lot how Aston Villa was always supporting him, helping him and when we (Emery) joined him here two years ago, how we worked with him, always trying to get the best of him," he said.

"Now we need him, like he needed Aston Villa. The conversation we are having usually, I am speaking with him a lot. When there are some teams calling us being interested in the players of course it is very good for us and very good for the players.

"Some players prefer to leave and some players accept to stay here, commit with us here and be with our challenge. One of those is Ollie Watkins." Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was tightlipped when asked at his own press conference on Friday about whether the Gunners had made a bid for Watkins.

With Jhon Duran set to join Al Nassr before Friday's transfer deadline in Saudi Arabia, Villa are looking for attacking recruitments. They have been linked with Chelsea's Joao Felix after Villa president of football operations Monchi revealed in a Spanish radio interview that Emery is a fan of the Portugal forward.

"There are names, one of them being Joao," Monchi told El Larguero. "Emery likes him, because in the three transfer markets I have been in, the fourth with this one, he has always been mentioned and has been a small object of desire for Emery."