Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins are Aston Villa’s final two representatives on show at Euro 2024, with one player’s involvement shocking many.
In what was poised to be a spectacular summer of international football for England, Gareth Southgate’s side have flattered to deceive so far.
The Three Lions’ quality is unquestionable however, things haven’t been working on the pitch, as England scraped into the quarter-final after beating Slovakia in extra time.
Aston Villa have two stars remaining in the tournament, as Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins remain as fringe players in Southgate’s under-performing squad.
Stuart Pearce admits shock at Ollie Watkins lack of minutes at Euro 2024 for England
While the two Villa players played integral parts in Unai Emery’s squad last season, the duo are less favoured by Southgate.
Between them, the defender and the striker have accumulated 35 minutes of action over England’s four games at the tournament, with Watkins’ situation not expected to improve.
After the narrow win against Slovakia, the 28-year-old fell down the pecking order by no fault of his own, as Harry Kane’s match-winner was assisted by fellow striker, Ivan Toney.
In reaction to the fixture, pundit Stuart Pearce shared his surprise that the Villa striker wasn’t selected to impact the game ahead of Toney when speaking on talkSPORT.
“I was quite surprised that he [Watkins] has been out of the equation totally and all of a sudden when we needed a goal otherwise it’s bye-bye England, it wasn’t Watkins, who I thought had done reasonably well in the game that he came on and stretched the opposition, Ivan Toney was the go-to centre-forward.”
Unfortunately for the Villa talisman, Toney and Kane wrote the script in Southgate’s mind, leaving Watkins with little claim to secure additional minutes.
Euro 2024 has been underwhelming for many England players
It’s surprising that England are in the quarter-final of the tournament, given how dismal performance levels have been.
Watkins has had a tough time, along with many other players, as Southgate is not the manager to take a risk in order to change a pattern that failed to work the game prior.
The Villa man has fallen under the category of being a fringe player for the England boss, something that is a shame considering his impact over the 2023/24 season.
Unfortunately, now that Southgate has seen Kane score the winner in the previous round, his case is closed on whether the Bayern Munich talisman needs to be withdrawn to allow others to shine.
It’s a tournament that will not reflect badly on Watkins, but one that could represent a frustrating summer for the 28-year-old.
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