Aston Villa pundit and podcaster Simon O’Regan has been sharing his thoughts on the club’s reported transfer interest in signing Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith Rowe this summer.
This comes after O’Regan made an appearance on a recent episode of Villa-themed podcast Holtecast, where he spoke about a range of topics concerning the Midlands club.
On the subject of Villa’s reported interest in Smith Rowe, O’Regan had this to say on the matter.
He said: “Nowadays, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes, so there’s part of me that’s thinking for a second bid to have gone in, the club must have been given some encouragement that there’s something there.
“Because you’ve got to think of the people who are in charge of our club now – Christian Purslow, Johan Lange on the transfer front – they’re not idiots, so I wouldn’t imagine that they get sucked in to play these agent games.
“The fact that he’s been negotiating this contract for pretty much all of last season, for a second bid to have gone in, there has to be some encouragement that’s been given to the club that there’s a deal here to be done.”
Since making his senior debut for the Gunners back in September 2018 under former Arsenal manager Unai Emery, the 20-year-old, who is currently valued at £16.2 million according to Transfermarkt, has made 45 appearances for Mikel Arteta’s side in which he has managed to score seven goals and provide seven assists along the way.
TIF Thoughts on Simon O’Regan’s comments on Villa’s interest in Smith Rowe…
With Villa having already had two bids for the Englishman rejected by Arsenal and now set to reportedly offer a third bid, this shows just how keen they are on signing Smith Rowe this summer.
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However, the fact that Arsenal have rejected Villa’s approaches does suggest that they have no interest in selling Smith Rowe, who Arteta clearly has a lot of faith in for the future.
In our view, it feels that only a very substantial transfer fee could potentially persuade Arsenal from letting Smith Rowe leave this summer, so only time will tell whether or not Villa will offer something that could make Arsenal consider selling him.
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