OLLIE WATKINS DROPS DAMNING VERDICT ABOUT ARNE SLOT'S LIVERPOOL AFTER ASTON VILLA'S 4-2 WIN

 

Ollie Watkins provided some eye-opening analysis on Arne Slot’s Liverpool after helping Aston Villa secure a 4-2 win at Villa Park on Friday night.

Villa put Liverpool to the sword in front of their home fans, sealing Champions League football in style with a deserved win over the reigning Premier League champions.

Unai Emery’s side went 1-0 up on the stroke of half-time through Morgan Rogers. Virgil van Dijk then levelled the scores early in the second half before Watkins restored Villa’s lead minutes later.

Watkins then doubled his tally in the 73rd minute before John McGinn made it 3-1 late on. Van Dijk made the scoreline slightly more respectable for Liverpool before full-time but this was another bitterly disappointing night for Slot and his beleaguered players.

Watkins on Facing Slot's Liverpool

Ollie Watkins scored against Liverpool

Sky Sports spoke to Watkins, who has now scored eight Premier League goals against Liverpool over the course of his career. Only Andy Cole (11) and Harry Kane (nine) have netted more times against the Reds.

During a frank live TV interview, Watkins described Liverpool as having a “disjointed” defence that don’t play offsides, making them a dream opponent for himself. The England international said:

“They play a high line and they don’t play offsides so they’re disjointed at the back and I feel like there’s a lot of space for me to run into."

He added: “I feel like I’m always going to get opportunities against them, that’s no disrespect to them. The two centre-backs are world-class at the end of the day, but I think I spot opportunities and spaces in between them.

“When it’s a high line like that I like to run in behind and create some danger for them.”

- Rob Swan

LIVERPOOL PREPARED TO SMASH BRITISH TRANSFER RECORD AGAIN TO SIGN ALEXANDER ISAK FROM NEWCASTLE WITH STRIKER STALLING OVER NEW DEAL

Liverpool are prepared to smash their transfer record again to sign Alexander Isak this summer

Liverpool are prepared to smash their transfer record for the second time this summer as Alexander Isak's Newcastle future was cast into further doubt on Tuesday.

The Premier League champions have already made the statement signing of the summer by signing Florian Wirtz for £116million; they supplemented that by landing another Bayer Leverkusen player, Jeremie Frimpong, as well as Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez.

But the addition of Isak would surpass everything. It will take a new British record fee to secure the Sweden international, in advance of £125m, but Liverpool's intentions are clear: they will move if they receive encouragement.

Adding Isak to the squad would take Liverpool's transfer overhaul to more than £300m

Newcastle remain adamant that Isak is not for sale and want to enhance his £120,000 per week contract - a task that should have been done on the watch of former Director of Football Paul Mitchell - but talks stalled earlier this year and there has been no progress.

Isak is currently with Newcastle's squad in Austria for a training camp and they want to enhance their forward line by adding Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt but, so far, their bid has fallen way short of the German's expectations: they want €100m (£86m) for the France Under-21 international.

Mail Sport understands Newcastle have bid £70m for Ekitike - a player in whom Liverpool also retain an interest - but the structure of what they have offered doesn't tally with what Frankfurt want; it has been a challenging window so far for Newcastle, who have agreed to sell Sean Longstaff to Leeds.

The fee for Isak would surpass the total £116m which they could shell out for Wirtz if all add-ons clauses are met

Liverpool have been determined to add a striker to their ranks since they secured their 20th title and while Isak represents the ideal choice, it is very much the club's modus operandi to have other targets in mind should they be required.

Aside from Isak and Etikete, Liverpool have discussed Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins and Yoane Wissa, the livewire Brentford forward who was close to joining Arsenal in January. 

Victor Osimhen has also been mentioned during talks with Napoli over Darwin Nunez.

Another intriguing detail is the fact Manchester United's Marcus Rashford's name was floated during a conversation but nothing progressed beyond that; there is little potential for that to be resurrected, given the question marks about his form in recent seasons.

Eddie Howe's side have already bid £70m for Hugo Ekitike, a sign they could be planning for life without Isak

This is an exceptionally busy period for Liverpool, who on Tuesday immediately rebuffed an offer for Luis Diaz from Bayern Munich. 

The German champions made a £58.5m proposal for the Colombia international but that is miles short of the Anfield club's £86m valuation.

That figure is identical to fee Manchester United rejected for their captain Bruno Fernandes from Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal at the beginning of June. 

Diaz, who is two years younger than the Portuguese, was the subject of firm interest from Al Nassr.

Newcastle are currently away in Austria for their pre-season training camp (pic: Eddie Howe)

In a situation that mirrors Isak's position on Tyneside, though, sources in Colombia have told Mail Sport that while Diaz has huge affection for Liverpool, he doesn't believe his current salary represents his value to the club. There have been no signs of them renewing the 28-year-old's terms.

Barcelona have also been persistently linked with Diaz but they have not made any contact. 

Liverpool, clearly, will offload some of their squad in the coming weeks. Napoli are the only club to make contact over Darwin Nunez but their offer of £55m, including add-ons, was miles short.

Nunez, who scored in the 3-1 win at Preston last Sunday, was Liverpool's club record signing in 2022 at £84m and the intention is to recoup £70m. England Under-21 pair Harvey Elliott and Tyler Morton also have admirers.

- DOMINIC KING

ARSENAL TRANSFER NEWS: BENJAMIN SESKO BOOST AS SIGNING DRAWS NEAR AND TARGET RE-EMERGES

Arsenal are looking to strengthen their attacking department ahead of the 2024/25 campaign, with RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko the top target for the Gunners

Benjamin Sesko has admirers at Arsenal(Image: Getty Images)

Another day, another round of transfer talk about strikers as Arsenal's current squad enjoy their holidays before getting down to serious business.

Mikel Arteta is set to fix his centre forward woes this summer as he bids to go one step further after three successive second-placed finishes in the Premier League. Benjamin Sesko, Viktor Gyokeres and Ollie Watkins have all been discussed as forward targets.

A stalemate appears to have developed surrounding Swedish hotshot Gyokeres, with Sporting Lisbon playing hardball for their star player. This has sparked renewed whispers about a potential swoop for Aston Villa's Watkins, who was on the radar back in January,, reports the Mirror.

A deal for RB Leipzig's Sesko might be inching closer following reports that the Bundesliga side are in discussions to sign striker Romulo from Turkish outfit Goztepe.

Leipzig won't let their main man go until they've got a replacement sorted and a deal for Sesko could set the Gunners back a cool £65m.

The situation with Gyokeres is still up in the air, with Sporting sticking to their guns that any bids around the £60m mark touted by his reps will be swiftly binned.

Sporting maintain they've not had any offers yet and the friction between the club's top brass and their leading scorer looks set to drag out into a long-winded saga... unless a club steps up with a hefty offer straight off the bat.

That pause has now turned the attention to Premier League-proven Watkins, who will hit the big 3-0 next season, with speculation ratcheting up several notches.

Arsenal made a clear overture to snag him back in January, but the Midlands outfit weren't tempted by the Gunners' proposal since the money wasn't right.

Lewis-Skelly update

Myles Lewis-Skelly is one of Arsenal's brightest young talents(Image: undefined via Getty Images)

Real Madrid whispers about prising academy gem Myles Lewis-Skelly away from the Emirates, with a single year left on the latter's deal, haven't given the Gunners' hierarchy any concern, with an insider noting the North London giants remain "very calm".

Transfer sagas with Real's name in it demand a pinch of caution; the hullabaloo about another Three Lions full-back with a dwindling contract possibly trading England for the Spanish giants seems, on cue, to have set tongues a-wagging.

And it's been fuelled no doubt by the cautionary Trent Alexander-Arnold tale of Liverpool losing their homegrown superstar with a wand of a right foot to the La Liga giants for a paltry £10m fee after he let his deal run out at Anfield.

- Alan Smith & Neil Docking 

PREMIER LEAGUE ISSUE STATEMENT FOLLOWING THREE CONTROVERSIAL MOMENTS DURING BRENTFORD O-1 ASTON VILLA

The Premier League released statements for three contentious refereeing incidents during Aston Villa’s 1-0 win away at Brentford.

Unai Emery’s men came out on top to seal an important three points in what was a cagey affair at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Referee Jarred Gillett oversaw several controversial moments throughout as VAR intervened to disallow a goal and he twice decided against awarding Brentford a penalty.

The ruled out strike - from Morgan Rogers shortly after Ollie Watkins scored what turned out to be the winner - was due to a very tight offside that required video intervention. Watkins had held up the ball well before cutting it back for Rogers to tuck away but Watkins was offside in the build-up, timing his run a split-second too early to reach a Jacob Ramsey through pass.

Referee Jarred Gillett had a tough game as Aston Villa beat Brentford 1-0. | AFP via Getty Images

The other controversial calls were against Brentford as winger Kevin Schade was twice bundled over in the box by Villa defender Axel Disasi but Gillett waved away the appeals on both occasions, ultimately costing the hosts a route back into the tie.

The first was a bizarre moment as Matty Cash went to clear the ball but knocked into defensive counterpart Disasi, who then bumped into Schade in a skittle effect. The second was a little more straight-forward as Disasi attempted a challenge on Schade but clumsily made slight contact with the attacker’s trailing leg.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank felt particularly aggrieved about the first incident. “It is a big, big penalty. I don't understand how VAR can't overturn it,” Frank said during the post-match press conference. “Disasi clearly took Schade out. The second one was on a softer side, but you can't go through the back of a player.”

Premier League reacts to Brentford-Villa refereeing drama

All of the incidents mentioned certainly caused a stir around the Gtech with many a debate held between supporters in attendance. As many of the key moments were disputable, the Premier League has issued three statements to clear up the calls made by the officials.

The first, relating to the disallowed goal, read: “VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and established that Watkins was in an offside position in the build-up and recommended that the goal was disallowed.”

The second, explaining the first penalty call being denied, said: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Brentford was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that Cash played the ball before a coming together between Schade and Disasi.”

The third, reasoning the second rejected penalty shout, said: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Brentford following a challenge by Disasi on Schade was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact deemed to be minimal and initiated by Schade.”

Emery, as he usually does, refused to speak in detail about the officials during his meeting with the press. The Spaniard did make it clear he felt Frank was wrong, though. “For me, not. Clearly not. Clearly not a penalty,” Emery said, short and sweet.

In other news, updates have emerged for Emiliano Martinez and Marco Asensio after the Villa duo missed the win at Brentford through injury.

- Charlie Haffenden

ARSENAL ON RED ALERT AFTER HARRY KANE 'SECURE' EXIT CLAUSE TO 'RETURN TO ENGLAND'

Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane

A stunning clause in Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich contract allows the striker to ‘return to England’ for a heavily-discounted sum, with any transfer to have a knock-on effect on Arsenal’s own striker plans, according to a report.

Harry Kane has done exactly what was expected since leaving boyhood club Tottenham for Bayern Munich. The 31-year-old has scored goals for fun, with his record in Bavaria currently standing at 70 goals in 72 appearances. Kane has also laid 22 assists on for his teammates in that time.

But according to a stunning new update from BILD, there is a clause within Kane’s terms that allows the frontman to leave Bayern and move back to England.

It has long been speculated Kane may one day return to the Premier League, with Alan Shearer’s record of 260 goals in his sights.

Kane currently sits second on that list with 213 and could conceivably surpass Shearer within two seasons of Premier League play.

Per BILD, breaking Shearer’s record does appeal to Kane and accordingly, he and his team successfully added a key clause into his Bayern deal.

It’s claimed Kane can activate a clause in the January windows of 2025 and 2026 that then facilitates his move in the summer that follows.

Given the 2025 winter window has just passed without Kane triggering the clause, he will not be on the move next summer.

However, the exit mechanism remains active this time next year and if activated, Kane would then be free to leave Bayern in the summer of 2026. A transfer at that time, per BILD, will cost €65m/£54m.

That would be a sizeable sum to pay for a player who’ll be aged 32 at that time. However, Kane remains one of world football’s most productive strikers despite already being the wrong side of 30 and his game has never been based around pace.

BILD did not offer any insight into whether Kane could return to Tottenham or whether a different Premier League side would make a move.

But one club’s transfer plans who could be affected is Arsenal…

Bayern want Arsenal target as Kane replacement

Another window came and went without Arsenal signing a potent new striker. The Gunners may well overhaul Liverpool and lift their first EPL title since 2004 without one, though only time will tell in that regard.

What is clear is Arsenal did attempt to sign a striker in January, with an offer totalling £60m lodged for Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa.

Explaining Arsenal’s failed attempts to add more firepower, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano told his YouTube channel: “Probably the most asked question of the deadline day: what are Arsenal going to do?

“What we can say is Arsenal considered several options, dream options like Benjamin Sesko, almost impossible options like Alexander Isak, who were never going to leave their clubs in January.

“But Arsenal understood it was almost impossible to make it happen now, so these two names – Isak and Sesko – remain for the summer.”

On Watkins specifically, Romano added: “Arsenal tried for Watkins a few days ago, but Aston Villa were furious [about the bid arriving] before the Champions League game [vs Celtic].

“Also the transfer fee: £60m add-ons included, were not enough to convince Aston Villa.

“Unai Emery wanted the player to stay and Jhon Duran going to Al-Nassr also had an impact. For Villa, money was no longer needed.”

As mentioned, RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko is one of two confirmed Arsenal targets for the summer. But per BILD’s update on Kane, Bayern consider Sesko one of two worthy replacements if Kane does depart.

The report stated: ‘Names such as Benjamin Sesko (21/RB Leipzig) or Viktor Gyokeres (26/Sporting) have been discussed internally.

‘Both would cost a high transfer fee of around 70 million euros, but would receive significantly less salary than Kane, who came to Bayern as a top star and earns an estimated 25 million euros a year.’

But as mentioned, Kane cannot leave via his exit clause in the upcoming summer after neglecting to trigger the mechanism in the winter window.

As such, the onus is on Arsenal to put a deal in place for Sesko BEFORE Bayern Munich come calling, potentially ahead of Kane’s return to England in 2026.

- Steve Pearson

ARSENAL STILL HOPE TO MAKE OLLIE WATKINS' DREAM TRANSFER COME TRUE AFTER CUNNING PLAY

Arsenal remain interested in Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins

Arsenal tried and failed to sign Ollie Watkins after submitting a bid of just £40million this week, which was swiftly rejected by Unai Emery’s side.

Sources have stated that Villa were furious with Arsenal’s offer, firstly because it was far below his valuation, and secondly as it came shortly before a crunch Champions League game against Celtic.

The bid has been viewed by Villa as an attempt to unsettle Watkins and try and convince the 29-year-old to push for a move.

Watkins ultimately started and scored in the 3-2 win over Celtic and today (Friday), Emery has made it clear that Watkins isn’t looking to leave before the winter transfer window closes.

“Some players prefer to leave and some players accept to stay here and commit to Aston Villa and compete for our challenges. One of them is Ollie Watkins,” Emery said in a press conference.

Some have suggested that Arsenal could try again with an improved bid for Watkins in the coming days but Villa have zero intention to sell him, regardless of how much the London side put on the table.

That is partly because Villa are set to sell Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr for £64million and Emery is not willing to offload another top striker in the final days of the window.

Arsenal grant Watkins’ ‘dream’ in the summer 

Sources close to Arsenal have suggested that their bid for Watkins this month was made to put them in a good position to make a summer approach for the forward.

Watkins will remain a target for the Gunners and a move may be more viable at the end of the season, as Villa will have time to find and sign a potential replacement.

The England international has been highly professional throughout the saga and put in a good performance against Celtic, despite the speculation surrounding his future.

Despite Emery’s comments about Watkins wanting to stay with Villa, sources have reiterated that he would be open to a move to the Emirates if the timing is right.

“That’s the dream, to play for Arsenal one day, but it’s a long shot – that’s a long-term goal of mine,” Watkins said back in 2020, and we understand that his feelings haven’t changed.

But Watkins is just one of several elite strikers on Arsenal’s shortlist. They still want to sign one in the coming days, but could bring in a stop-gap solution and sign a bigger name in the summer.

As we have consistently reported, Newcastle superstar Alexander Isak is the Gunners’ dream target but he is valued in excess of £100m.

Newcastle are expected to sit down with Isak at the end of the season to try and convince him to sign aa contract extension, and if he agrees he will be untouchable even in the summer.

Arsenal view Watkins as a cheaper alternative and while signing him in the winter window is off the cards, there is every chance they could return for him in a few month’s time.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are among the clubs interested with Mathys Tel and could make a late play for the Bayern Munich striker, although rivals Tottenham are pushing to complete a deal.

- Fraser Fletcher

LIAM DELAP DOUBLE EARNS IPSWICH TOWN DRAW WITH ASTON VILLA

Liam Delap's brace ensured the points were shared between Aston Villa and Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Sunday.
Julian Finney/Getty Images

Ipswich Town played out a fourth straight Premier League draw after they held Aston Villa 2-2 on Sunday at Portman Road where Liam Delap opened the scoring for the home side before grabbing the equaliser in the second half.

Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins scored for Villa in the first half before Delap grabbed his second but neither side could find a winner as promoted Ipswich continue to wait for a first win on their return to the Premier League.

Villa missed the chance to go level on points with leaders Liverpool as Unai Emery's side are in fifth place on 13 points -- behind Chelsea on goal difference -- while Ipswich are 15th with four points.

"It was really good and we showed what we are about from minute one and we created so many chances. It was a really good result for us and we probably deserved the win after the second half performance," Delap told Sky Sports.

"I think it's the fourth time we've got something from a game so we are happy."

In an end-to-end first half, Ipswich took an early lead when Villa failed to clear the ball and Jack Clarke cut the ball back for Delap, whose first-time shot slipped through goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez's glove even though he had the near post covered.

But Villa responded seven minutes later when Jacob Greaves gave the ball away in a poor clearance, with Rogers picking it up in the box and playing a one-two with Watkins before firing home the equaliser.

Portman Road was quickly silenced when Leon Bailey whipped in a cross that took out both Ipswich centre backs and Watkins made it 2-1 with a header for his fourth goal of the season.

Ipswich had two glorious opportunities to level but Martinez came to Villa's rescue when he palmed away a rocket of a shot from Kalvin Phillips before sticking a leg out to deny Delap when he was clean through on goal.

The game calmed down in the second half but Ipswich were in the ascendancy and they equalised on a counter-attack after 72 minutes when Delap beat the offside trap and got the better of Diego Carlos with a sublime shimmy before beating Martinez.

"They always put a lot of pressure on us and we couldn't really implement our game plan," Watkins said.

"Ipswich were always on to us and it was a bit of a basketball game, which is what they wanted but we didn't. It was a difficult game and I think a point is a fair result."

Game Information

Portman Road

4:00 PM, September 29, 2024

Coverage: USA Net/Tele

Ipswich, England

Line: AVL -0.5

Over/Under: 2.5

Attendance: 29,943

Referees: Stuart Attwell