Ollie Watkins / Villa Player

Yes Ollie's been great. Not the best one on one finisher (as saw a bit tonight in second half) but he's still scored roughly once every 2 and a half games so not bad at all in his debut top flight season.

Nightmare for any defence with his workrate and intelligence of his runs.

Being greedy I'd still love to add a Tammy Abraham into the mix just to give us more of a poacher in the actual penalty area.
 
Imo technically one of most underrated forwards in the whole league. Ball then glued to his foot at times this half. If people think Bamford is some technical god I'd argue Ollie is just as good if not better.

What he hasn't quite got yet is ruthless finishing. That chance when he tried to go past Mendy which allowed them to get Silva and Rudiger back a good example.

Sort of striker who you always think should score more. Last season he got 15 but should've got 20 + with hitting the post a few times.
 
FootballHQ said:
Imo technically one of most underrated forwards in the whole league. Ball then glued to his foot at times this half. If people think Bamford is some technical god I'd argue Ollie is just as good if not better.

What he hasn't quite got yet is ruthless finishing. That chance when he tried to go past Mendy which allowed them to get Silva and Rudiger back a good example.

Sort of striker who you always think should score more. Last season he got 15 but should've got 20 + with hitting the post a few times.
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Yup always liked him. Class player and definitely better than Bamford. Would be a good buy for a top club.
 
FootballHQ said:
Imo technically one of most underrated forwards in the whole league. Ball then glued to his foot at times this half. If people think Bamford is some technical god I'd argue Ollie is just as good if not better.

What he hasn't quite got yet is ruthless finishing. That chance when he tried to go past Mendy which allowed them to get Silva and Rudiger back a good example.

Sort of striker who you always think should score more. Last season he got 15 but should've got 20 + with hitting the post a few times.
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Where's he playing with Ings in the side? When he was Exeter he played largely either in centre midfield or number 10, at Brentford he started off playing on the wing, so he's only been playing as a number 9 for a few seasons.
 
FootballHQ said:
Imo technically one of most underrated forwards in the whole league. Ball then glued to his foot at times this half. If people think Bamford is some technical god I'd argue Ollie is just as good if not better.

What he hasn't quite got yet is ruthless finishing. That chance when he tried to go past Mendy which allowed them to get Silva and Rudiger back a good example.

Sort of striker who you always think should score more. Last season he got 15 but should've got 20 + with hitting the post a few times.
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That was Ollie's purple season. And you still see he's not ruthless enough by your own comments. You could say he was unlucky but missing the post by mm could also be deemed unlucky. Bottom line is woodwork or no woodwork, ya missed! Be more ruthless, no what ifs!

His lack of end product will see his value dip this season. Along with the whole Villa team minus Grealish I suppose. Ollie is a good player but I don't see where he fits ahead of the likes of DCL, Vardy, Son, Kane, Antonio, or whomever else is going to finish top six (that's replying to someone else, not you, who mentioned a top six team).
 
I like the cut of this guy's jib.

He's a pressing monster, and although his finishing can be improved on, he's a constant menace around the box, and seems to score all types of goals.

He's 27 years old (a good age), and can play facing goal or with his back to goal. Also good at bringing others into play. His hold up play is decent, but can also be improved on.

This season he's on (G/A) 11/5 which is which is impressive playing for a Villa side that were being managed by Gerrard for half a season. Has gone up a few gears now that Emery is there. I think at a club like ours where we are (theoretically) creating better chances, he could easily become a 20 goal a season striker.

So yes, I think he's worth looking at as an alternative to Osimhen, Kane etc - he wouldn't cost a bomb either (his contract is due to run out in 2 years so there's some incentive to drop the price).

And lastly, we didn't do too badly the last time we signed a striker from Aston Villa.
 
The Corinthian said:
I like the cut of this guy's jib.

He's a pressing monster, and although his finishing can be improved on, he's a constant menace around the box, and seems to score all types of goals.

He's 27 years old (a good age), and can play facing goal or with his back to goal. Also good at bringing others into play. His hold up play is decent, but can also be improved on.

This season he's on (G/A) 11/5 which is which is impressive playing for a Villa side that were being managed by Gerrard for half a season. Has gone up a few gears now that Emery is there. I think at a club like ours where we are (theoretically) creating better chances, he could easily become a 20 goal a season striker.

So yes, I think he's worth looking at as an alternative to Osimhen, Kane etc - he wouldn't cost a bomb either (his contract is due to run out in 2 years so there's some incentive to drop the price).

And lastly, we didn't do too badly the last time we signed a striker from Aston Villa.
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He's a decent to good striker going through a little purple patch. Nothing in his past suggests he's going to explode into a goalscoring machine.

Also, Villa will not want to sell, nor do they need the money, so he'd be north of £70m. For that money I'd prefer Toney, or push it a little higher and get real potential like Ferguson or Ramos. Or Kane, obviously!
 
Drizzle said:
He's a decent to good striker going through a little purple patch. Nothing in his past suggests he's going to explode into a goalscoring machine.

Also, Villa will not want to sell, nor do they need the money, so he'd be north of £70m. For that money I'd prefer Toney, or push it a little higher and get real potential like Ferguson or Ramos. Or Kane, obviously!
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I think he's doing better under Emery because they're playing better football - in theory, that would be the same for us (big if though).

Can he do 20 goals in the PL? I think so - considering some of the chances Wout has missed since he's arrived in our different competitions, a guy like Watkins would put them away no problem.

The fly in the ointment is the cost but I think Villa would want to cash in if we offered a fair amount - I personally think something in the £40-50m range would do it.
 
The Corinthian said:
I think he's doing better under Emery because they're playing better football - in theory, that would be the same for us (big if though).

Can he do 20 goals in the PL? I think so - considering some of the chances Wout has missed since he's arrived in our different competitions, a guy like Watkins would put them away no problem.

The fly in the ointment is the cost but I think Villa would want to cash in if we offered a fair amount - I personally think something in the £40-50m range would do it.
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Yes he may have the potential to level up if he's playing for a better team. But there is absolutely no way he's getting sold for £40-50m! Why would they sell him for that? They don't want to sell and they don't need the money. Add in the English player tax, United tax, and my guess is £70/75m. And at that price you may as well be more ambitious.
 
Loved the way he took the goal at Chelsea.

He still misses a few but has improved plenty under Emery and relishing being the main man again after selling Ings.

Hitting double figures in all three of his prem seasons isn't to be dismissed lightly.

One thing that's incredible is he pretty much never gets injured. I think in his three seasons he's missed four league games for us (and one of those was due to him being wrongly given a red v Man. United for diving).
 
I think he's capable of going up another level, not sure he's quite got enough to become first choice here though. He's done an excellent job for Villa when you consider he'd only really been a regular CF for 1 season before joining them. As someone who's always seemed to play with a smile on his face it was noticeable how that wasn't the case under Gerrard, found his form immediately after he left as well.
 
He has been really impressive since Emery became a manager.
 
I think he’d be great here.
 
Scored 11 goals in his last 12 prem games. Consistently performing. Scored as many goals as Haaland since World Cup. Well played to him.
 
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Decent purple patch this if its just that. (2023 so far, league performance)
 
Big game player.
 
Him or Toney should be the minimum level of striker we have in the squad instead of WW. If we aspire to be challenging for top honours. We have done well despite some obvious imbalances in our squad this season
 
crossy1686 said:
You pair him up with Rashford and Antony as a front 3 and he'd get a bag full.
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Maybe, maybe not but I'm not a fan of us going for a 27 year old striker who has shown little sign of being better than average over the last 3+ seasons till recently, we have far too many fair weather footballers on our books already, we need a much more proven player in a position where we're dying for a top class regular starter.
 
BAMSOLA said:
Maybe, maybe not but I'm not a fan of us going for a 27 year old striker who has shown little sign of being better than average over the last 3+ seasons till recently, we have far too many fair weather footballers on our books already, we need a much more proven player in a position where we're dying for a top class regular starter.
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Flipping heck. Had no idea he was 27 now. Still thinking he’s early twenties.
 
BAMSOLA said:
Maybe, maybe not but I'm not a fan of us going for a 27 year old striker who has shown little sign of being better than average over the last 3+ seasons till recently, we have far too many fair weather footballers on our books already, we need a much more proven player in a position where we're dying for a top class regular starter.
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Yeah that's fair enough, I didn't realise he was that old either, but he is entering his peak years. I think he's Spurs bound once they sell Kane anyway.
 
crossy1686 said:
Yeah that's fair enough, I didn't realise he was that old either, but he is entering his peak years. I think he's Spurs bound once they sell Kane anyway.
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Why would he go to Spuds, especially if they don't make the CL and Villa are more likely to finish above them?

Villa have the better manager, similar stadium (not sure about that), similar squad (or probably better if Kane leaves) and the better and more ambitious owners. Not to mention Villa are just a much bigger club and should really be a strong Tier 2 side for the next couple of years.
 
Chief123 said:
Flipping heck. Had no idea he was 27 now. Still thinking he’s early twenties.
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Yeah and problem is I couldn't name a single break out season for him up to now and this isn't even quite a season it more of a patch as season isnt over.

Far too many players like that here already, with a record of concentrated mediocrity only broken up by a few purple patches of form. With the momentum of this season come summer we really need to go in a different direction.
 
BAMSOLA said:
Yeah and problem is I couldn't name a single break out season for him up to now and this isn't even quite a season it more of a patch as season isnt over.

Far too many players like that here already, with a record of concentrated mediocrity only broken up by a few purple patches of form. With the momentum of this season come summer we really need to go in a different direction.
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Saha, Tevez, Alan Smith etc never really had break out seasons. They're just players who scored goals in a league that incredibly competitive, and did so at lesser teams
 
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