Club 'call' about replacement with Arsenal expected to make fresh attacker bid

Arsenal are now preparing for a Premier League clash with Manchester City on Sunday after taking care of business in the Champions League on Saturday. The Gunners now have a Round of 16 spot wrapped up without the need for a playoff, and they can, at least for a little while, concentrate on trying to catch leaders Liverpool.

In the meantime, Mikel Arteta and his staff will be racing Monday’s deadline in a bid to wrap up an attacking signings. Here we round up all the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding the Emirates Stadium.

New Watkins bid likely

Arsenal are expected to submit a second bid for Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins after failing with their first attempt. The Gunners saw a £60million offer rejected by the Midlands club, who were reportedly unhappy with the timing of the offer.

According to the Daily Mail, Arsenal will return with another, improved offer, hoping to test Villa’s resolve as the end of the window comes into sight. The striker is known to be an Arsenal fan, but he has a long-term contract with Villa and a solid relationship with the club.

Villa searching for Watkins replacement?

In relation to that Watkins chase, perhaps the most interesting factor is Villa’s apparent search for a replacement, although it’s not clear whether they are trying to replace Watkins or the outbound Jhon Duran, who is headed to Al-Nassr.

Fabrizio Romano has tweeted: “One more club has called today for Mathys Tel: Aston Villa have also asked for deal conditions. Jhon Durán leaves to join Al Nassr and Villa are in the market for new striker, with contact made for Tel as @FabriceHawkins reports. There are currently 7 clubs involved.”

Neville on corruption claims

Gary Neville is not on board with any claims of corruption from referees amid suggestions from some fans after Michael Oliver’s decision to award a red card to Myles Lewis-Skelly during the win over Wolves, a red card that was later revoked on appeal.

“They [Arsenal fans] use language like corruption, which means they think he's getting paid and bought off – which is obviously not the case,” Neville told the Daily Mail.

“We [at Manchester United] lived in a club which created a siege mentality about the referees. Arsenal are doing a bit of that as well – there's no doubt that what Arsenal do is inflame the situation after the game rather than calm it down, they've done that for 12 months – but we can't say that's wrong having played in the dressing room that we did. The difference is now with social media, when we were playing back in the day and doing similar things with referees, we weren't inflaming what would be a cause of corruption on social media.

“Now you have a sway of Arsenal's anger, which comes from the players and from Mikel Arteta, and prominent fans. You now have a social media wave now which goes towards [allegations of] corruption and cheating. In our day, we couldn't have that much influence – everyone was at home without a phone, and didn't have Twitter.”

Your next Arsenal read, Watkins has already made 'buzzing' Arsenal admission amid bid