Ollie Watkins is not good enough to fire Arsenal to major honours.
That’s the view of Simon Jordan amid ongoing reports linking the England international with a move to the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal’s need for a centre forward has been the topic of discussion over the past week and not for the first time this season.
Despite their best efforts in a spirited second leg, Arsenal’s penalty box failures were laid bare during their 3-1 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-finals.
The Gunners have also come up short in the Premier League having fallen well off the pace in the race for the title and with no guarantees of holding on to second place.
Elsewhere, Watkins, who has often been the scourge of Arsenal, is in a fruitful run of form for Champions League-chasing Aston Villa.
Buoyed by his history-making winner at Bournemouth last weekend, the 29-year-old became the club’s all time top Premier League goalscorer with 75 goals, eclipsing Gabby Agbonlahor’s long-standing record.
Watkins, a boyhood Arsenal fan, netted an impressive 19 league goals last term and despite reduced game time this season, the striker has registered 16 goals with two games of the season remaining.
With Arsenal expected to prioritise signing a striker in this summer’s transfer window, Watkins will again be among the names linked with a move to north London, however, Jordan is not convinced he is the player to fire the Gunners to the promised land.
“I don’t think he’s a world-class player. I think he’s a good player and he’s been good for Aston Villa and Aston Villa have been very good for him,” Jordan told talkSPORT.
“It was a nice step up for him from Brentford. Everyone did well out of the deal, Brentford got a decent fee for him.”
Asked if Watkins is a better player now than before his move to Villa Park, Jordan replied: “Yeah, because he’s played in the Premier League.
talkSPORTJordan doesn’t believe Watkins can fire Arsenal to title glory[/caption]
AFPMikel Arteta is in the market for a striker this summer[/caption]
“I don’t know what his goals-to-game ratio is but ultimately he’s achieved a meaningful status for Aston Villa to be able to be their greatest Premier League goalscorer.
“Does he take Arsenal somewhere that they’ve not been and give them an outcome that they are constantly saying they haven’t had? I don’t think he does.”
Former Aston Villa and Arsenal defender Martin Keown was a little more complimentary of the striker’s offerings but concedes that Arsenal may not look at him as a good lasting option.
“Long term, he’s getting on a little bit maybe and they (Arsenal) might want a little bit more pace,” said Keown.
Pressed on whether Watkins has the capability to lead a team to the title, Keown added: “I think he’s very close to it now.
“If you look at Villa they have been quite magnificent and I expect them to get into the Champions League.
GettyWatkins has netted six times in ten games against Arsenal[/caption]
“He’s got Spurs and Manchester United to play against, he’d be seeing that as goals wouldn’t he?”
Villa are currently sixth in the Premier League table, level on points with Chelsea who occupy the final Champions League qualification spot in fifth.
A showdown at home to Tottenham on Friday night, live on talkSPORT 2, is Villa’s next outing before they round off their campaign at Manchester United.
