In Ollie Watkins’ first training session at Aston Villa those around him immediately recognised a player ready for the step up to the Premier League.
His hard, unselfish running was not lost on the defenders who came up against pace and power of a different kind. Captain Jack Grealish was licking his lips with anticipation after watching Watkins’ early movement both in and out of possession, while on the sidelines manager Dean Smith and his long-term assistant, Richard O’Kelly, could see a different beast to the one they previously had at Brentford.
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“He looked like a more mature and confident player right from the start,” Smith tells The Athletic. “He scored 26 goals last season and he believed he should have scored 36 as well which just shows he is not one who is going to rest on his laurels.”
Watkins, who sang Luther Vandross’s Never Too Much as his initiation song, backed up those early impressions in training by getting off to a flying start at Villa. After scoring in a pre-season friendly against Manchester United and then following it up with a goal on his debut against Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup, his perfect hat-trick in the 7-2 win over Liverpool in the last Premier League outing took his early tally to five goals in six games in all competitions.
Little over three weeks after that first training session, there was Watkins, standing under the Villa Park lights clutching onto the match ball for dear life. The chief executive Christian Purslow, the man who negotiated the record-breaking deal to bring him to the club for £28 million rising to a possible £33 million, was wrapping his arms around the striker as a global media scrum gathered.
His first words in reply to one question about his hat-trick was that he “should have had five goals rather than three”. There was nothing cocky or arrogant about his tone. He is down to earth. This was an in-form Premier League striker living in the moment.
It wasn’t always like this, though.
Ripping into the usually rock-solid defensive pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez and announcing himself on the global stage was the product of years of hard work.
That he recognises his previous times of struggle, and still has a never-ending desire to improve, will also keep him grounded.
In Watkins’ late teenage years at Exeter City, his game was in such a state that he still hadn’t nailed down a position of preference or strength. He could play down the middle or out wide, but wasn’t making any great gains. Those close to him speak about a defining period that helped shape his future, and also cement an early steeliness in his mindset.
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Aged 18, he ditched the comfort of under-21 football at Exeter for a loan spell at Weston-super-Mare AFC, six divisions deep in the league pyramid.
Ryan Northmore, his manager at Weston, told The Times: “When I had him, he had real superpowers, but he was too predictable to play against.”
Yet that loan spell, where he scored ten goals in 24 games, was the making of him. He returned to Exeter with a purpose and was rough and ready. Not only had he shown courage to go and mix it with battled-hardened men, he also had the bumps and bruises to prove that he was up for the fight and worthy of consideration for the first-team.
After scraping onto a pre-season tour to Scotland in 2015 as the 24th man and the final pick, he didn’t look back.
Kevin Nicholson, his under-18 coach at Exeter tells The Athletic: “The potential was always there for Ollie. However, he needed support, guidance and good coaching from the people at the club at that time to help him on his way to fulfilling that potential. His technical and physical attributes were impressive from day one of working with him but he needed help to improve his general game understanding at that time.
“Credit should go to Paul Tisdale (manager) and Steve Perryman (director of football) for the work they did with Ollie at Exeter once he became a young professional with the first team.”
Tisdale worked tirelessly with Watkins, initially asking him to hustle more when playing in a wide position rather than simply waiting for the ball to come to him.
A slight tweak to his position at the back end of 2015 paid dividends. During his time at centre-forward he scored 25 goals in 74 games, earning him a move to Brentford.
It was here, in the Championship, where he took his game to a new level. None of it was left to chance, though, as one former staff member explained: “Ollie always wanted to know the areas where he could improve. He was a constant learner; always searching for ways he could better himself.”
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Nicholson echoes such thoughts from his earlier years, adding: “Through the ups and downs, he never stopped believing in himself and his ability. He was prepared to work hard and he demanded honesty and feedback. He wanted to know what he was doing well and how he could build on it.”
Under Smith and O’Kelly in his first season at Brentford, Watkins scored ten league goals and missed just one game. He chalked up another ten strikes in the following season but the majority of the goals came from cutting in from the flank or playing as a supporting striker.
Pre-season training would often make for interesting viewing when Watkins was involved as he consistently topped the charts for speed, stamina, high-intensity sprints and a stack of other metrics.
Brentford’s programme editor, Chris Deacon, tells The Athletic: “Ollie transformed himself into a physical specimen. We’d call him a machine because it looked like he would set himself into third gear and then cruise along at the front while everyone else was blowing.”
It’s his blend of technical and physical attributes that have helped him settle into the Premier League with ease, but the 24-year-old’s sky-high confidence stems back to the start of last season.
It was when Brentford’s recognised No 9 Neal Maupay left for Brighton & Hove Albion that summer that those around Watkins sensed a coming of age. He took on the responsibility of becoming Brentford’s main source of goals and his hard work was rewarded with 26 strikes in return.
Coaching staff remember the early stages of that campaign where he asked for individual sessions to work on his movement and finishing to help him adjust to the change.
Watkins also dedicated time to improving his heading and the rewards could be seen in his performance for Villa against Fulham earlier this season where he dominated the defence.
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It will come as a surprise to many that, among Premier League forwards, only Oli McBurnie (22) Andy Carroll (22) Dominic Calvert-Lewin (17) and Chris Wood (16) have won more headers then Watkins (15) this season. Maybe more telling is that, of those strikers, recognised for their aerial dominance, only Carroll (22 won, 10 lost) has a better win-to-lose ratio in headed duels.
Unwittingly, Watkins finds himself once again in a comparison contest with Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic, the man who beat him to the top goalscorer award by a single goal last season, as both players have won and lost 15 headers a piece so far for their respective clubs and are seen as among the best in that particular category.
But such individuals battles are of little relevance to Watkins as one source said: ”He had no interest in what Mitrovic was doing last season, it was more about how he could get the better of the defender he came up against.”
It’s that attention to detail before a match day that is maybe giving him an edge.
He studies forthcoming opponents religiously before games and knows exactly the type of defenders he is coming up against. Pre-match analysis is, of course, common across every professional league in the country, but Watkins’ preparation is as detailed and thorough as you can get.
If a defender has slipped up in the past, or made a mistake that could be repeated, Watkins will try to expose that weakness himself. The way he hassles defenders and stretches the backline with his clever and unselfish runs into the channels that create space for his team-mates also helps.
He will also know exactly how the opponents like to play, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, as he asks for additional clips from analysts to aid his preparation.
It was clear that Watkins had done his homework on Liverpool. Immediately after the win he told Sky Sports how the team as a collective targeted their opponent’s high line. Deep down, he’d have also planned ways to unsettle Van Dijk and Gomez, although he remained respectful and humble enough to keep it private.
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On top of his on-field qualities, there’s a likeable lad who receives glowing references from every club he has been at.
At Exeter his legacy lives on as they still show videos of their academy graduate to young players before training. A £4 million windfall from the deal that took him to Villa has also been well received.
Along with his goals, Brentford miss his cheeky smile, as well as his honesty and generosity as he always helped with charity events. The boy who parked himself in a modest apartment on the River Thames and shirked the lavish lifestyle of London after moving up from Devon will always be welcomed back with open arms.
There was never a change in his behaviour either as five clubs battled for his signature this summer. Watkins never let his standards drop. He was consistently friendly and engaging around the training ground right up until the day he cleared his locker to head up to Birmingham and complete his late-night move.
But it’s at Villa where he is progressing now and there’s a belief that the record-signing is very much the real deal.
Watkins’ consistency in front of goal is special. It’s over 18 months since he went longer than three games without scoring a league goal and Smith confidently revealed his thoughts about the man he has now signed twice.
“I have no doubts he will score goals for us this season and be a very much loved Aston Villa centre-forward,” he said.
The players feel the same too, and have noticed how he demands more from them in a measured but encouraging way.
He sets high standards and wants those around him to match up, but that’s nothing new; it has been the case since day one.
(Top photo: Peter Powell – Pool/Getty Images)
