Rio Ferdinand has now been praising an Aston Villa player ahead of the side’s two-legged tie with Lille starting on Thursday.
Unai Emery must be optimistic that his Villa side can overcome some indifferent league form of late to eventually progress to the Europa Conference League semi-finals.
Of course, Villa form can be called ‘indifferent’ owing to the incredibly high standards the club have created this season.
Just one win in their last five league games is unrecognisable form compared to that of February or before the turn of the year.
But a lengthy suspension to John McGinn for example, added to injuries elsewhere as well, has slightly curtailed progress.
That all being said, Villa are still on course to achieve a Champions League finish one way or another, an exceptional achievement for the club.
And when considering who the club’s Player of the Season will be, it is hard to look past 24-goal Ollie Watkins.
Along with the likes of John McGinn and Douglas Luiz, the £28m-striker has been the star of the show.
Rio Ferdinand says Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins could be the best English player this season
That being said, Rio Ferdinand was recently considering who he believed to be the best English performer in the Premier League this season on FIVE.
And when presented with names like Cole Palmer and Phil Foden, the pundit couldn’t help but praise Ollie Watkins, who he considered to be a ‘great shout’.
Rio Ferdinand commended the Aston Villa striker’s season, saying he was a nightmare to play against.
He explained: “Watkins is a great shout. Not fashionable in terms of the names we are talking like Palmer and Foden but what he is doing there under Unai Emery is crazy.
“Goals, assists, hard to play against.”
And although Jhon Duran has proved to be a very capable understudy at times, Aston Villa will need their star man fit for the remainder of the season, given all there is still left to achieve.
Watkins has made so much progress under Emery, explaining why he is a shoe-in for the England squad.
And with just 31 games played, Watkins’ 18 Premier League goals has already beaten his previous best tally in the 2022/23 season (15).
All that considered, Liverpool’s Andy Robertson did recently praise a different Villa player entirely.
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