Gabriel Martinelli, Ollie Watkins bound for Saudi Arabia
Gabriel Martinelli, Ollie Watkins bound for Saudi Arabia
Al-Hilal are closing in on the double capture of Gabriel Martinelli and Ollie Watkins, with sources confirming to TEAMtalk that the Saudi Arabian giants are on course to complete a major double swoop from English football.
Al-Hilal, who finalised the capture of Crysencio Summerville earlier this summer, are now on course for a triple swoop on English football.
The Saudi Arabian giants are set to splash out around £100million on their deals to land Martinelli and Watkins.
Watkins’ deal is close to £50million and, although it has not yet been finalised, Al-Hilal already have personal terms agreed with the England international.
Our sources report that Watkins has made it clear to Aston Villa that he wants to move to the Middle East, with the striker having turned down offers to extend his contract at Villa Park. He missed their opening game of the season at Brighton as he pushed for his move.
Villa are now accepting that Watkins is on his way out and, as we revealed on Monday, they are pushing ahead with their interest in Nicolas Jackson.
Villa are making sure they have striking reinforcements in place and have also seen a bid rejected for Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta and held talks over AC Milan’s Rafa Leao.
However, as TEAMtalk have confirmed, Jackson has long been their No.1 target and talks between the two clubs are now progressing despite interest from Atletico Madrid.
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Martinelli closing in on Saudi switch
Atletico have also shown an interest in Martinelli, but he, like Watkins, is now set to head to Saudi Arabia.
Martinelli has been told he can leave Arsenal and, having rejected a move to Galatasaray, Al-Hilal have now come in and made their move.
We understand they are close to an overall deal worth around £58million for the Brazilian.
That means Al-Hilal are close to finalising deals worth close to £110million for Martinelli and Watkins.
Arsenal, meanwhile, are still expecting and hoping to bring in a new left-sided option before the window closes.
They also retain hope of landing Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez, but that is dependent on the Argentina international accepting that he is not going to get his long-desired move to Barcelona.