Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has emerged as a shock transfer target for the Gunners [James Holyoak_SPP]

WHAT took them so long? That’s the question Arsenal supporters will be asking going into the final days of the transfer window after it emerged yesterday (Wednesday) that the Gunners have made an audacious bid to sign Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins.

It is understood that their initial offer was quickly rejected, with Villa adamant that the 29-year-old is not for sale. But there’s growing speculation that Arsenal are preparing to return with an improved offer north of £60million in the hope that they can thrash out a deal before the window closes on Monday at 11pm.

The odds seem stacked against the Gunners, however, with Villa said to be unhappy with the timing of Arsenal’s approach, which came just hours before they played Celtic in the Champions League.

If the speculation unsettled Watkins, though, it didn’t show – well, for most of the match at least.

The boyhood Arsenal fan scored and recorded two assists as Villa beat Celtic 4-2. But he also endured a calamitous penalty miss as he slipped and ballooned an effort high and wide.

Villa boss Unai Emery made it clear that any club chasing Watkins face an uphill battle. The former Arsenal manager said: “I don’t want [him to leave]. It is good news to have an offer from other clubs, or interest, it is good.

“But we want to keep our sporting objective through the players we have in the squad. Every player can be in the market in case it is good for the club, the player and the team but to get this deal of course we are going to be very demanding as well and Watkins is our striker.”

And the deal would indeed be made all the more difficult if reports that Villa’s only other recognised striker, Jhon Duran, is about to make the switch to the Saudi Pro League ring true.

Arsenal did manage to survive again without a proven goal-getter last night as they scored twice in four first-half minutes to came from behind and beat Girona.

Neto replaced the injured David Raya in the Gunners’ goal. But the Brazilian, on loan from Bournemouth, was less than convincing on his debut as he raced out of his box and allowed former Tottenham forward Arnaut Danjuma to curl the ball past him.

But Arsenal quickly recovered to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League. Jorginho levelled matters from the spot after Thomas Partey was fouled inside the penalty area, before Ethan Nwaneri showed Neto just what a dream debut looked like. The 17-year-old cut in from the right hand side and curled an effort into the bottom corner to seal a 2-1 win and became the second-youngest English goalscorer in the competition, behind Jude Bellingham.

Arsenal had a chance to add a third in stoppage time but Raheem Sterling saw his penalty saved by Pau Lopez.

The results saw Mikel Arteta’s side finish third in the table to secure their place in the last 16, where they could face Feyenoord, Juventus, AC Milan or PSV.

Heaping praise on match-winner Nwaneri after the game, Arteta said: “That’s what we love about him, he’s willing to take the initiative to make things happen.

“He’s very aggressive when he’s got the ball and so confident because before that he had another action, a very similar one, he made the right choice, he went for it, he has the capacity to finish from every angle.”