Premier League legend Alan Shearer has admitted that Arsenal are clearly panicking ahead of the January transfer window closing with their pursuit of Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins.

football.london understands that the Gunners had a bid for Watkins rejected earlier this week, but they are likely to try again before the end of the window. However, they are set to be faced with resistance from Villa, who are already set to lose forward Jhon Duran to Al Nassr before Monday's deadline.

As time continues to tick away before the window closes, Shearer believes that the move for Watkins is a sign of panic as the Gunners finally chose to try and complete a move for a striker to compete in the Premier League title race. Speaking to Betfair, the former Newcastle man explained: "There's no way Arsenal get Ollie Watkins now, I mean they just couldn't do it, even if they thought it was a good business deal, it was either going to be one or the other and they chose to let Duran go.

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"From an Arsenal point of view, it was pretty naughty the timing of it, on the afternoon of a Champions League game, when you consider they've had all month they put the bid in and they've known what they're missing for seven or eight months. It's not as if they've just realized what they're missing.

"It doesn't take an idiot to work out what they need and now Arsenal have hit the panic button. I don't know why it's taken them so long to realize that they need a centre forward, so many people have talked about it for such a long time.

"[Mikel] Arteta will point to [Bukayo] Saka and [Gabriel] Jesus being out injured, but they needed a centre forward even before they were injured. The only surprise to me is it's taken so long in the window for them to make a move.

"Watkins is the sort of player that would make the difference for them, in him you're getting someone who's ready-made, but Villa are not going to sell him." football.london understands that while the bid for Watkins became public knowledge hours before Villa's crucial Champions League clash with Celtic, the offer was submitted in advance of Wednesday.