Ollie Watkins is in the form of his life.
After a brace of assists in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday, the striker now has 31 goal contributions in the Premier League this season.
Aston Villa are in a race for top four with Tottenham, but currently occupy the final Champions League spot; albeit with two games extra played on Spurs.
The Villans also have a Europa Conference League semi-final against Olympiacos to look forward to and, better still, manager Unai Emery has now signed a new contract.
The good news just keeps on coming for Villa currently and a UEFA announcement on Tuesday has added further cause for celebration.
UEFA announcement improves Ollie Watkins Euros chance
There was uncertainty around the size of squad that international managers were to be able to select for this summers European Championships in Germany.
However, clarity has now been provided with UEFA voting on whether the squads should comprise of 23 or 26 players.
Historically, international tournament squads have included 23 players, however this was increased to 26 for the postponed Euro 2020 tournament due to Covid.
This summer’s tournament was intended to return to the conventional 23, however this faced opposition from a number of international bosses.
On Tuesday, these managers got their wish as UEFA voted to allow the squad size to remain at 26.
This is good news for Watkins, who will be desperate to make Gareth Southgate’s squad in what would be his first major international tournament.
It will also be a post for Ezri Konsa, with the defender seeing his chances of getting the call also improving.
Will Watkins make England Euros squad?
Even without the increased squad, there would surely be uproar if Watkins was not in the England squad this summer.
The 28-year-old has scored 28 goals in all competitions for Villa this season, whilst providing an additional 12 assists according to Transfermarkt.
The former Exeter City man has also netted three goals in 11 games for his country.
The fact he has been selected in Southgate’s past two England squads is good news, but Brentford’s Ivan Toney outperformed the Villa man in the last set of internationals.
After starting his comeback from his gambling ban well, Toney has since dropped off and had some time out of the Brentford side.
Meanwhile, Watkins has gone from strength to strength and it is unthinkable that he will not act as Harry Kane’s back-up in Germany.
Such is his current form, Southgate may even be scratching his head to try and conjure up a way in which both Watkins and Kane can start together without disrupting the balance of his team.
The risk-averse nature of the England manager means this is unlikely, however, but Watkins should still have a big role to play in the summer.
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