After his most productive Premier League campaign to date, Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins will be looking to build on that in his first full season with Unai Emery.
The 27-year-old ended with 15 goals and six assists in 37 league games, becoming the first Villa player since Christian Benteke in 2012/13 to score 15 or more goals in a single league campaign.
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Emery’s arrival was pivotal in that achievement, as prior to his appointment, Watkins had registered just two goals and two assists in 13 outings as there was real frustration over the way in which he was being used under former boss Steven Gerrard, which didn’t play to his strengths.
Following the decision to sell Danny Ings and make Watkins our main man to lead the line, he produced 13 goals and four assists in 24 league appearances while working under the Spanish tactician, as his coaching influence undoubtedly had a major impact on the Villa star’s ability to become increasingly decisive.
Watkins continues to be a pivotal presence for us up front with his work ethic off the ball to press and apply pressure higher up the pitch, while his movement to stretch defences and create space for the likes of Jacob Ramsey, Douglas Luiz and John McGinn to exploit is crucial.
That said, there was still that missing piece in his game of being consistent and clinical in front of goal.
He found that this past season as his confidence grew under the guidance of Emery and his coaching staff, with his goalscoring form between January and April undoubtedly proving to be fundamental in keeping our hopes of European qualification alive.
As a club that wants to compete at the highest level and across multiple fronts, it’s only natural that Villa will target reinforcements this summer to bolster Emery’s attacking options, but Watkins has certainly cemented his place in his plans moving forward and it will be his starting berth to lose next season.
However, he’ll face a fresh challenge next year in trying to raise his game again and being the prolific presence up top that we need to break into the top six and compete for silverware.
Watkins has made significant improvements this year in terms of his positioning and awareness on the pitch to be a genuine threat on a consistent basis, but teams will adjust to that and come up with plans to nullify him next season.
In turn, it will be down to him and the coaching staff to continue to evolve and develop his all-round game, while hopefully adding more quality around him to put him in a position to be even more clinical.
For now though, he can look back on a brilliant season as he took on that challenge in January to be our main striker and relished it. Having helped lead us back into Europe with a Europa Conference League qualifying playoff round to look forward to in August, it’s hoped that we’ll see Watkins reach even headier heights next season and continue to shine under Emery.
37 games. 15 goals. 6 assists. 🔥
The most productive @PremierLeague campaign of Ollie Watkins' career so far. 😍 pic.twitter.com/0zQtybel0m
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 30, 2023