Arsenal have '£45m bid turned down' for top Premier League striker in move that has come out of nowhere

Arsenal have reportedly had a surprise £45 million bid rejected for a Premier League striker, reports claim.

After selling Eddie Nketiah to Crystal Palace in the summer, the Gunners do not have a traditional number nine - with Kai Havertz typically playing through the middle in Mikel Arteta's preferred starting XI.

But it's been clear for a while now that Arsenal lack a clinical goalscorer up top and it could be the difference in the Premier League title race after two consecutive second place finishes.

And shock reports say that Arsenal have tabled a bid for one of the most exciting forwards in the Premier League at the moment. Colombian outlet Antena 2 say Arsenal submitted an offer for Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran.

Duran, who is still only 20, has hit eight goals for Villa in all competitions and proved to be a super-sub who delivers on the big occasions. He scored the winner in the Champions League win over Bayern Munich and his stock continues to rise.

The former Chicago Fire man was heavily linked with a move to West Ham in the summer but stayed put. Villa value hime extremely highly and the report states that the West Midlands club immediately rejected the proposal from Arsenal.

He recently extended his contract until 2030 and though Villa have no desire to sell him, it's said that they have set a gigantic asking price of £70 million.

Jhon Duran has emerged as one of the most exciting strikers around. Image: Getty

Duran arrived from the MLS for a fee of £14.75 million and has scored 16 goals across in 65 appearances in all competitions. He has also courted interest from both Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain in what is a huge compliment to his emergence.

After a strong spell, Villa have lost three games in a row and there are concerns that Duran and Ollie Watkins cannot play together as a front two

But Unai Emery is still persisting with trying to find a way to get both strikers in the same side.

Speaking after the loss to Spurs, Emery said: "I have to try to give minutes to those players on the field and how we can get better with those players. It is the process we have and we are building a team.

"We are trying to get a strong structure in everything. A situation we have to work with is those two strikers. We have to give them chances to get confidence."

Villa return to action on Saturday evening when they take on league leaders Liverpool at Anfield.