Rio Ferdinand has urged Manchester United to sign Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins this summer.
United remain in the market to sign a new striker having missed out on a deals for Liam Delap, who joined Chelsea for £30 million last month, and Viktor Gyokeres, who completed his £63m transfer to Arsenal on Saturday.
Watkins, meanwhile, was the subject of a £40m offer from Arsenal in the January transfer window but Villa turned down the approach from Mikel Arteta’s side.
Reports this week have claimed that United have now contacted Villa over Watkins’ availability but have been told that the striker, who has been valued at £60m, is not for sale.
Ferdinand has supported United’s push to sign the 29-year-old, who scored 17 goals in all competitions for Villa last season.
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‘I’m greedy, I think we need a centre forward,’ Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel.
‘There’s a misconception out there that I don’t rate Gyokeres. I think Gyokeres is a very good player, I just don’t think he was right for what we want right now.
‘We need someone with experience who the other centre forwards look at and go, ‘that’s a bit of me’, without any doubts.
‘Ollie Watkins says that, Premier League proven, played in the Champions League last year as well, has done his thing consistently for a while, international, plays for England as well. He ticks all the boxes.
‘Victor Osimhen was obviously my first pick, that’s an old broken record that’s not going to materialise.
‘But if you’re looking at it now I would go Ollie Watkins if you get him at the right price.
‘He’s 29 years old, there’s no sell-on value, it’s purely to have an impact immediately over the next two or three years which I think Ollie Watkins can have in a good way on the centre forwards who are there. He would be great right now as well.
‘That front three if you played Ollie Watkins, [Bryan] Mbeumo, [Matheus] Cunha and you can mix that in with Amad, [Mason] Mount, whoever, that’s a hard day’s work for opposing defence on most days.’
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