Unai Emery has been told that Aston Villa would not have achieved Champions League qualification without one key player.
The 2023/24 season was a turning point for Aston Villa, who secured a ticket to the next campaign’s Champions League.
Unai Emery ensured his side progressed from their seventh-place finish of 2022/23 to place behind only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool in his first full year at the club.
While it would be difficult to fault Villa’s season, doubts have now been shared over whether the Midlands side would have met such achievements without one key player.
Aston Villa would not have achieved Champions League football without Ollie Watkins
Adrian Clarke shared his Premier League one-player-per-club Team of the Season for 2023/24, unsurprisingly naming Ollie Watkins as his Aston Villa representative.
The pundit concluded that the Englishman is ‘tailor-made’ for Emery’s system however, did highlight his doubts over Villa’s strength without their talisman.
“Would Villa have made it to the UEFA Champions League without Watkins’ goal-getting exploits? I don’t think so.
“He is tailor-made for Unai Emery’s style of play, and his pace, movement and finishing were all stellar throughout 2023/24.
“He would enjoy having these three brilliant attacking midfielders supplying him with the ammunition.”
Ending the 2023/24 Premier League season with 19 goals and 13 assists, Clarke’s comments are fair, with Watkins pulling away as Villa’s standout performer over the campaign.
Watkins is so important to Villa’s success
Having racked up a combined total of 32 goal contributions, the England international had a hand in a whopping 42% of Villa’s goals in the Premier League season.
While it took Watkins until matchday six to get off the mark, once the 28-year-old found the net, the goals kept coming as he equalled Christian Benteke’s scoring record at Villa by matchday 33.
Unfortunately, Emery’s star striker failed to score in his final five games of the campaign, seeing him unable to set the club record for most goals in a Premier League season.
Still, it wasn’t only his reliability in front of goal that saw Watkins soar at Villa in 2023/24, as the creative edge added to his game saw him hit the next level under Emery.
The former Brentford striker took home the Premier League Playmaker of the Season award for his 13 assists, with Alan Shearer admitting he can’t wait to see the forward play in the Champions League due to his all-round progression.
From goals to assists, to general forward play, the 28-year-old was undoubtedly the driving force behind Villa’s Champions League qualifying campaign, with Watkins promising that there’s even more to come.
Clarke’s comments ring true regarding Villa’s potency without Watkins, as the marksman’s impact was fundamental to his side’s successes over the 2023/24 season.
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