Ollie Watkins is the Sustainer

Elliott Brown / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

When Ollie Watkins suffered the heartbreak of losing the Championship play-off final to Fulham, the last thing he would have expected was to be celebrating scoring a hat-trick in Aston Villa’s 7-2 win over Liverpool.

Liverpool, managed by Jurgen Klopp, Premier League champions, Champions League winners - The Mentality Monsters. Watkins played the monsters but ended up being the BoogeyMan, the monster in the closet, and the thing hiding under the bed.

After joining Villa from Brentford this summer, big things were expected of the man who made the Championship look easy.

Watkins has always been a natural goalscorer, so it’s fitting that he announced himself to the top flight with the purest expression of a striker’s instinct, sniffing out a mistake.

By fitzyt, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53709666

With 80 goals and 30 assists across 227 professional games, the 24-year-old is a provider as well as a scorer and it’s always been this way.

His performances in the fluid front three for Brentford last season was phenomenal - 25 goals in 46 games set the Championship on notice.

But this isn’t a man who was honed and perfected in the Premier League’s Academy system. Watkins came through at Exeter City, who are now due a £3.5m sell-on fee.

Incredibly, that’s more than the £1.8 million Brentford paid for the player in 2017, and the money will give the club stability throughout COVID-19, which is threatening to send many teams into liquidation.

By fitzyt, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53709672

His goals are sustaining Villa and Exeter. It’s not quite trickle-down economics, but it’s a useful reminder that the Football League is a pyramid worth persevering with. Watkins has worked hard for his place in the Premier League, and his journey isn’t linear.

There have been difficult moments, hard loan spells, and periods in which the goals weren’t flowing. Now he’s making up for the lost time.

Two Carabao Cup strikes preceded those top-flight debut strikes, and now Watkins has five goals in six games.

His price tag, which could reach £33m, means that Villa will expect a significant return for their money.

Watkins has started to deliver already.