Ollie Watkins will be recharging after a long season ahead of what he hopes will be a summer in Germany having been named in the provisional England squad for the Euros.
The Aston Villa striker has enjoyed a fine season, scoring 27 goals and providing 13 assists in all competitions as Watkins played a big role in securing a Champions League spot for next season.
The 2023/24 season was the best of Watkins‘ career, with the fact that there wasn’t a single penalty in those 27 goals making the achievement all the more impressive.
The 28-year-old is flourishing under the management of Unai Emery and a report from The Athletic in which Watkins was named the club’s player of the season has explained a key factor behind his improvement.
Ollie Watkins’ close relationship with Aston Villa coach behind form
This season was by far the most productive of Watkin’s time at Villa, with the 32 Premier League goal contributions 11 more than his previous best a year before.
Having been the first player in Europe’s top five leagues to reach double figures for both goals and assists this campaign, his rate of scoring did slow towards the end of the season as the number of games caught up with him.
Watkins will naturally be disappointed he could not react the 20 goal mark in the Premier League having failed to score in the last five leage games of the season, but it was a prolific season nonetheless.
The Athletic has suggested that this new and improved Watkins can be attributed to his work with the club’s individual development coach, Antonio Rodriguez Saravia.
According to the article, the coach known simply as ‘Rodri’ ‘tends to work with Watkins after training, fine-tuning the nuances of a striker. This includes finishing practice, more analysis meetings and learning the type of runs to make’.
Watkins must now take the next step with Champions League football
It would appear that Watkins is doing everything in his power to continue his development and the striker will now get the opportunity to prove himself in the Champions League.
The former Brentford striker could make his mark in Europe prior to that if he secures a place in Gareth Southgate’s England squad.
Watkins is generally assumed to be in direct competition with Ivan Toney for a spot on the plane, but even with Toney arguably impressing more in the last international break, Watkins’ season should speak for itself.
Harry Kane will of course start in Germany if he is fit, but Watkins would be a very capable deputy.
The prospect of Champions League football is one that will excite Watkins and he will be determined to prove both to himself and everyone else that it is where he belongs.
Few would have predicted both his and the club’s rise a couple of seasons ago, but Emery and his staff deserve enormous credit for what they have done to develop Villa as a whole as well as the players individually.
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