Ollie Watkins

[mallo]

The last time we sold our best player for £100M and 'replaced' him, I can't quite remember how that went.

[Meanwood Villa]

The last time we sold our best player for £100M and 'replaced' him, I can't quite remember how that went.

Oh christ, Gerrard's not coming back is he?

Also, Emi is our best player.

[Olneythelonely]

The last time we sold our best player for £100M and 'replaced' him, I can't quite remember how that went.

We ended up with a better winger?

[Kevin Dawson]

Three years later we qualified for the Champions League.....

[Whiney MacWhineface]

I feel mention must be made here of Brian Green, who flew a flag for Ollie way way back when he first appeared for Exeter.

And talking of Brian, he hasn't appeared here since late April. Hope he's OK.

[chrisw1]

The last time we sold our best player for £100M and 'replaced' him, I can't quite remember how that went.

Oh christ, Gerrard's not coming back is he?

Also, Emi is our best player.

He probably is, truly world class.  But it would probably be harder to get a capable replacement for Ollie than it would Emi.  Same for Luiz.  For me our best outfield player, but easier to replace than Ollie.  They are the last 3 players in the squad I would sell though.

[john e]

The last time we sold our best player for £100M and 'replaced' him, I can't quite remember how that went.

Oh christ, Gerrard's not coming back is he?

Also, Emi is our best player.

He probably is, truly world class.  But it would probably be harder to get a capable replacement for Ollie than it would Emi.  Same for Luiz.  For me our best outfield player, but easier to replace than Ollie.  They are the last 3 players in the squad I would sell though.

Emily is the best goalkeeper in the world, you can’t replace him
Watkins is good, but he’s not the best in the world

[chrisw1]

I agree with your assessment of the players John, but the point I was making is that I think it would be easier to get a really good keeper to replace Emi than a very good striker to replace Ollie. 

[PeterWithesShin]

Ollie would be incredibly difficult to replace imo. He gives us work rate, goals, durability, assists and is pretty much perfect for an Unai team.

[PeterWithesShin]

And pretty sure it was the much missed Chelts that first mentioned Ollie.

[Risso]

Chelts was marginally ahead of Brian, but the first proper mention I can see was this by Tony Erdington before either of them:

got a mate who supports Exeter, and his always banging on how good this kid is, because of my mate I have seen a number of his goals, the kid is a talent for sure, the step up from Exeter to Villa though.

[Somniloquism]

Mentioned in the other thread about the FourFourTwo analysis being quite good. They explain in this video the lack of support the front four were getting in the the first half. And then the difference after Watkins and others were taken off.

[Grande Pablo]

I didn't see Kane & Toney attacked in this mornings press as Watkins was after Monday's game.

[paul_e]

I think people that think selling Watkins might be a good idea need to spend a bit of time looking at the state of the game worldwide so they realise how rare 'proper' centre forwards are right now.

I'd honestly put Ollie down as having a fair shot of being in the top 10 strikers in the world and that is as much as indictment of the state of the game as it is opposite for him.

I've said it a few times but the vast majority of world class attacking players prefer playing out wide and don't like doing the dirty work with their back to goal. Being a classic 9 just isn't seen as sexy anymore, everyone wants to be the next Messi.

[kippaxvilla2]

I bet Toney missed that on purpose last night.