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Aston Villa have rejected a bid from Premier League rivals West Ham for forward Jhon Duran, the PA news agency understands.
West Ham first registered an interest in Duran last summer but failed to pursue initial advances for the Colombian striker and he signed a new deal with Villa until 2030 in October.
However, the Hammers have stepped up their efforts to bring the 12-goal forward to London and had a bid reported to be in the region of £57million turned down by Villa on Monday.
The transfer speculation is an unwanted distraction for Villa ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash away to Monaco.
Leading scorer Duran is set to be involved, but, with 20 of his 27 appearances this season having come as a substitute, boss Unai Emery acknowledged it was a challenge for him to find a way to play the highly-rated attacker with Ollie Watkins.
Watkins scored his 10th goal of the campaign in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Arsenal and insisted post-match he could partner Duran, which has only happened once under Emery in the 5-0 loss away to Crystal Palace last May.
Asked about playing Watkins and Duran together, Emery told reporters in Monaco: “Firstly, it’s my challenge. It’s my challenge to try to get the best individually and then collectively.
“Collectively means maybe playing together, but we have to work tactically because to play with two strikers, two proper strikers, is not the same task as playing together, because they have to try to help the team as well offensively and defensively.
“I think I can find a solution to play at the beginning and start them together, but they have to understand the role.”
Villa have enjoyed an excellent return to Europe’s elite competition with four wins out of six matches to sit fifth in the new league phase of the Champions League.
A top-eight finish would send Villa – currently on 13 points – directly through to the last 16 and avoid an extra knock-out tie next month.
Emery added: “I think we need three or four more points to get the top eight.
“Our target is to be in the top eight and tomorrow is the key. Firstly because Monaco has an opportunity if they are beating us to get 16 points and maybe they could be in the top eight as well.
“Our opportunity and our objective is not to get 16 – we will try to get 19 points because with that we will be there for sure.”