Aston Villa star ‘ready’ to make shock exit as Newcastle eye £30m ex- Chelsea forward

Welcome to 3 Added Minutes’ regular morning round-up of some of the biggest (and wildest) Premier League transfer rumours which you might have missed over the past 24 hours – and we start today with an eyebrow-raising story involving Aston Villa.

According to Sky Sport Switzerland, striker Ollie Watkins has “reached an agreement” on personal terms ahead of a potential move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal, who supposedly want the England international to replace Karim Benzema this summer.

The deal, it appears, is dependent on Al-Hilal being able to resolve an apparently complex contract situation with Benzema – the veteran forward is said to want the remainder of his contract paid in full in order to tear it up. Which doesn’t sound complex to us, so much as highly expensive.

With that barrier still in place, however, Al-Hilal have yet to make a formal offer to Aston Villa, and there’s no word on what kind of transfer fee they might demand. It’s also worth noting that despite asserting that personal terms have been agreed, the report also states that Al-Hilal are monitoring “various” options and not just Watkins.

The 3AM Verdict: A few of the gossipier websites have run with this story but at the time of writing, Sky Sport Switzerland remain the only primary source for it. We’re sceptical – the idea that a contract would have been agreed before Al-Hilal have even decided that Watkins is their preferred target seems rather hard to believe. Even if the report is wholly true, however, there are clearly a lot of hurdles to be cleared and we don’t think that Villa fans need panic. Yet, anyway.

Newcastle & Aston Villa target former Chelsea flop

Over to a story from Sport Witness now – they suggest that former Chelsea forward Christopher Nkunku has “attracted interest” from Newcastle United and Aston Villa, who apparently need a ready-made replacement for Watkins all of a sudden.

Both Premier League sides are said to have “made enquiries” about the Frenchman’s availability, and apparently his current club AC Milan are prepared to let him leave, with a minimum asking price of €35m (£30m) for the 28-year-old.

Newcastle and Villa aren’t the only teams in the bidding, however. Borussia Dortmund, AS Roma and Nkunku’s former employers RB Leipzig are all said to be “keen” to sign him. It sounds as though any negotiations are in an embryonic stage.

The 3AM Verdict: Nkunku didn’t fare much better at Milan than he did at Chelsea, but it’s certainly possible that there are Premier League teams willing to take a chance on a player who earned 18 caps for France before his form fell off. We haven’t yet been able to corroborate the claims ourselves, however, so we’re staying gently sceptical for now.

‘Movement’ at the Emirates as wonderkid deal inches closer

We’ll wrap up with a story for the Arsenal fans reading and it comes courtesy of Fabrizio Romano, writing for Caught Offside. The Italian reckons that there is “movement” on the future of teenage winger Ethan Nwaneri – and suggests that he could leave the Gunners permanently.

That’s because AC Milan have submitted a loan offer with a purchase option embedded in the deal, although Arsenal are apparently not accepting that “at the moment,” a somewhat ominous qualifier. Turkish side Galatasaray are also said to be interested, although the type of bid they’d make isn’t made clear.

They may not be the only sides who make a move for Nwaneri. Unnamed Premier League sides are “expected to join the race,” Romano claims, and there is interest from Germany too. No decision has been made about the 19-year-old just yet.

The 3AM Verdict: A loan looks highly likely but we’re not hearing anything at our end which suggests that Arsenal would consider agreeing a permanent sale, and we doubt that Milan have the finances to make an offer good enough to twist their arm. Let’s just hope that he ends up somewhere more suitable for him than Marseille were last season. On a side note, it’s now looking increasingly unlikely that Myles Lewis-Skelly will leave - despite Arsenal’s best efforts.