Ollie Watkins

[brontebilly]

Arguably the two most important games in the champions league last year against PSG he didn’t start. He was definitely dropped because he came out afterwards and told everyone how pissed off he was

Bit of a dangerous game to play with Emery too. Ollie has to expect and accept competition for minutes playing for a club with European football. If he went to Arsenal for example, he wouldn't be guaranteed 90mins each game either. My issue with him was more when he came on as a sub for Duran or later Rashford, from memory he made little impact in those games and sulked a bit. His efforts up top with Duran were comical.

Id still back him all day to get back to his very best next season. A bit like Martinez, he would be a very difficult player to replace. Not just stats wise, he's a leader and a very resilient guy.

[john e]

Personally I don’t think he’s going anywhere anyway

[N'ZMAV]

with Watkins turning 30 soon, I imagine this window is the last point we could demand a big fee for him. It's now or never if we're thinking of selling.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The issue selling Ollie this summer is the lack of an obvious replacement out there that we could get our hands on at a decent price. Delap was probably the most suitable, but he had 6-7 good options. Unless we get £60m which is mad money for his age, there's just no gain in selling at the moment.

Jean-Philippe Mateta for £40m fits the bill. His goal record is almost identical and he's two years younger than Watkins. Not really the type of player I'd want replacing Watkins, I'd prefer Gonçalo Ramos who's not getting the minutes at PSG. If Unai is as good as we like to think, I'm sure he'd get Ramos firing.

Speaking of Unai, I believe his micro-management in the second half of the season did Watkins no favours. There were games where he (and Rogers) may as well have not been on the pitch. One game springs to mind where Watkins only touched the ball 7 times in the first half - beating Gabby's record of 8. Then you have Watkins' greatest strength, being in the right place at the right time. It appeared that Watkins was under instruction to be at the far post for balls coming in from the opposite side. It made no sense at all. What happened to Unai's instruction of Watkins just playing in front and inside of the 18 yard box? He was going wide again like a few seasons back, having to drop deep to get a touch or was so isolated he had two big centre halves marking him out the game.

Whether we stick with Watkins or bring somebody else in, Unai's got to learn to trust the player and give him a bit of freedom. Playing for a 0-0 no matter who the opposition is until half time does nobody, especially the strikers, any favours.

Just to add, £60m is more than I'd hope for but if somebody's willing to pay it I'd probably bite their hand off as next summer, unless he's scoring 25+ goals this coming season, we'll be lucky to see 50% of that value.

[Smirker]

Hopefully going. Then we get a proper striker in.

Coops level of trolling. At least in how nonsensical it is.

Smirker's , definitely not a troll.

*Just a little misguided on this occasion.

Thanks.

I'm not repeating myself. You will all see. Better strikers are out there and the club will find one I'm sure.

You just can't name any.

I'm not the scout.

If Ollie Watkins is the best we can do then we should just give up. It's the player equivalent of people thinking we couldn't get anyone better than Gerrard (until we got Emery).

17 goals in 54 apps. And people think that's good enough for our lead striker. Raise your standards.

[Bosco81]

I think Gonçalo Ramos would be a success in the Premier League, not sure how much he would cost or his salary, but I like the way he leads the line.

He might not work the defenders as much as Ollie does but I think he’d score plenty of goals.

[paul_e]

I'm not the scout.

If Ollie Watkins is the best we can do then we should just give up. It's the player equivalent of people thinking we couldn't get anyone better than Gerrard (until we got Emery).

17 goals in 54 apps. And people think that's good enough for our lead striker. Raise your standards.

If you ignore that many of those appearances aren't for 90minutes and the 14 assists then maybe but you could also view it as:

1 goal every 210mins
1 assist every 255mins
1 goal or assist every 115mins

For context
Salah (the best player in the league last season) was 1 g/a every 79mins
Haaland was every 103mins
Isak was every 100mins

and this was supposedly a really poor season for Watkins. It's not about raising standards it's about recognising that, in 2025, a striker is more than just his goal tally.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I think Gonçalo Ramos would be a success in the Premier League, not sure how much he would cost or his salary, but I like the way he leads the line.

He might not work the defenders as much as Ollie does but I think he’d score plenty of goals.

Oh he's got a good pair of lungs and doesn't mind chasing down. Cost? I'm guessing €70m which is very close to the £60m we'd hope to get for Watkins. He joined PSG for €65m but has had a bit of a rough time there, out for some time with a virus. Now he may get a game or two but will probably be used again from the bench. World Cup season coming up, he'll really want to be getting as many minutes as possible.

Swapping Paris for Brum? Speak to Asensio or Digne. I'm really surprised Arsenal haven't followed up their interest in him, I guess they want somebody with PL experience. It's a risk but if we can add some real pace on the right, Rogers as the 10 with Ramsey and Maatsen down the left, we'd have an attack for the next 5/6/7 years.

[nigel]

I'm not the scout.

If Ollie Watkins is the best we can do then we should just give up. It's the player equivalent of people thinking we couldn't get anyone better than Gerrard (until we got Emery).

17 goals in 54 apps. And people think that's good enough for our lead striker. Raise your standards.

If you ignore that many of those appearances aren't for 90minutes and the 14 assists then maybe but you could also view it as:

1 goal every 210mins
1 assist every 255mins
1 goal or assist every 115mins

For context
Salah (the best player in the league last season) was 1 g/a every 79mins
Haaland was every 103mins
Isak was every 100mins

and this was supposedly a really poor season for Watkins. It's not about raising standards it's about recognising that, in 2025, a striker is more than just his goal tally.

Surely it can’t be that difficult to grasp that a strikers role in today’s game is very different.
Stats can be very misleading.

Yes, you could probably replace his 15 goals for 20, that might very well be easy in itself, but Ollie contributes so much more for the team, that would need replacing, too,  all of a sudden it becomes a lot more difficult.

[Sexual Ealing]

Yep, our attacks will become very predictable if we replace him with a player that controls the ball at the first time of asking. Wink.

[PaulWinch again]

I'm not the scout.

If Ollie Watkins is the best we can do then we should just give up. It's the player equivalent of people thinking we couldn't get anyone better than Gerrard (until we got Emery).

17 goals in 54 apps. And people think that's good enough for our lead striker. Raise your standards.

If you ignore that many of those appearances aren't for 90minutes and the 14 assists then maybe but you could also view it as:

1 goal every 210mins
1 assist every 255mins
1 goal or assist every 115mins

For context
Salah (the best player in the league last season) was 1 g/a every 79mins
Haaland was every 103mins
Isak was every 100mins

and this was supposedly a really poor season for Watkins. It's not about raising standards it's about recognising that, in 2025, a striker is more than just his goal tally.

Indeed - the consistency of his output is remarkable, and generally speaking those with better have been in stronger sides. It’s weird to have such a negative view for a player who has been brilliant for us.

[Olneythelonely]

Hopefully going. Then we get a proper striker in.

Coops level of trolling. At least in how nonsensical it is.

Smirker's , definitely not a troll.

*Just a little misguided on this occasion.

Thanks.

I'm not repeating myself. You will all see. Better strikers are out there and the club will find one I'm sure.

You just can't name any.

I'm not the scout.

If Ollie Watkins is the best we can do then we should just give up. It's the player equivalent of people thinking we couldn't get anyone better than Gerrard (until we got Emery).

17 goals in 54 apps. And people think that's good enough for our lead striker. Raise your standards.

None of our players are the best we can do. Unfortunately, most of the better players than ours want to play for teams better than ours.

[kippaxvilla2]

David Ornstein.

They have made some enquiries with his camp. These are spinning plates, and that’s a situation they’re attentive to.

“From my conversations with Villa, they have no intentions of parting with Ollie Watkins, they want him to play up front for them, he’s on the list of a club like Arsenal. Watkins is definitely an interesting case for the market, he’s an older age, but he has a great physical profile, a strong record, he delivers and he’s Premier League ready.”

[brontebilly]

Yep, our attacks will become very predictable if we replace him with a player that controls the ball at the first time of asking. Wink.

If you ignore the goals, assists, hold up play, movement, selfless running, resilience...then he can definitely be improved upon

[PaulWinch again]

As I’ve said - to guarantee better you have to pay a fortune, which clearly defeats the point and isn’t realistic option (plus those players aren’t coming here). Then you’re into taking a punt, and to match what Ollie has provided over a period of time is going to be a massive ask.