Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is a huge fan of Aston Villa star Ollie Watkins. Arsenal submitted an offer for the striker earlier this week following a formal approach to try and bolster Mikel Arteta's attacking options, but it was swiftly rejected by Villa.

In the wake of that major news coming to light, Watkins showed exactly why the Gunners were interested as he scored and assisted two in the 4-2 Champions League win against Celtic at Villa Park which confirmed their spot in the last-16.

In 32 appearances, across three competitions, the England international has now hit 20 goal contributions and would quite clearly immediately improve Arsenal's attack. However, the chances of him actually moving this month appear to be dwindling with Jhon Duran set for a move to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

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Villa selling both strikers, despite a strong interest in Chelsea's Joao Felix and Mathys Tel of Bayern Munich, appears extremely unlikely. Nonetheless, Arsenal could still test their resolve and submit a second bid with Klopp giving an informal green light to exactly that.

“Ollie is a really, really talented striker," he admitted back in 2021 after Watkins' hat-trick in Villa's stunning 7-2 win against Liverpool during the season played without fans. "Obviously the manager knew him from before and it was a really good signing. The whole Brentford attacking line was exceptional in the Championship season before.

"So that suits really well, he's physically strong so he can keep the ball, he can jump high, he is very fast – that's a good package.

"Nobody has to remind me how good he is but how we always try to defend strikers, we try to avoid passes into their area. With him, that's not different than it is to others." Arteta will also know Watkins quite well considering the fact, as a boyhood Arsenal fan, he has scored at Emirates Stadium on three separate occasions for Villa.

The first of those arrived in a 3-0 win which occurred during the same campaign as the hat-trick against Liverpool. Both he and Leon Bailey also found the back of the net in a 2-0 victory which ended Arsenal's Premier League title hopes last season.

And just a few weeks ago, the 29-year-old bagged the equaliser in a 2-2 draw in north London with Villa fighting back from two goals down.