Ollie Watkins has grafted his way up from the Conference South to the European Championships. Johnny Nic eulogises over a striker whose fight for the spotlight continues…
Who’s this then?
Oliver George Arthur Watkins is a 5’11” Torquay-born, Newton Abbot-raised striker who plays for Aston Villa. He scored for England last week and is an important player in Villa’s push for a European trophy this campaign.
From the age of 10 to 17 he was at Exeter City’s academy, eventually making his first-team debut in 2014 after signing pro-forms for the club. But it wasn’t an easy start for Ollie and he was sent out on loan to Weston-Super-Mare for the second half of the 2014-15 season in the Conference South. He did well, scoring 10 times in 25 games before returning to Exeter City but still struggled to make an impact until the 2016-17 season which saw him scoring 16 tim
52 games and winning the Young Player Of The YearThis excellent performance brought him to the attention of Brentford who were ambitiously looking to get out of the Championship and into the top flight. Around six million quid was paid for him. He played for three seasons for the Bees, scoring 49 times in 143 appearances. In 2019-20 his 26 goals helped Brentford to get promoted and there was an understanding that they couldn’t hold onto their biggest asset forever. He won the EFL Championship Player of the Year at which point Villa turned up smelling of money, pushed £30million at Brentford and took Ollie to Villa Park, where he has now been for three and a bit seasons, with 50 goals in 127 appearances to his name.In 2021 he made his England debut scoring against San Marino. He’s got eight caps and scored his third goal against Australia last week. Were it not for Harry Kane, he’d probably be a regular starter for England with seven goals in 13 appearances for Villa to his name. Of his 135 goals 34 have been game winning goals, which is probably the most important stat on his CV.
