What could Watkins offer United?published at 11:47 British Summer Time
11:47 BST
Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist
Manchester United transfer target Ollie Watkins has provided
consistent goal threat for Aston Villa since joining from Brentford in 2020, more
than justifying his transfer fee of £28m, rising to £33m with add-ons.
The Torquay-born striker has reached double figures in all
five of his seasons with Villa and equalled a club record by netting 19 Premier
League goals in 2023-24. He has also been available for the vast majority of
games, featuring in 184 of 190 top-flight matches.
His principal strengths are pace and movement, traits which
have enabled him to register 211 shots on target in the past five Premier
League seasons, second only to Mohamed Salah. But while he is a constant source
of danger, his finishing statistics have fluctuated over the years.
Watkins enjoyed a real hot streak when scoring 27 times in
all competitions in 2023-24, overperforming his expected goals total by 6.2 and
netting with 20% of his attempts.
Those figures regressed last season, with the England
international underperforming his expected goals total by four and converting
15.3% of his chances. It perhaps didn’t help that during the first half of the
campaign he was often replaced by Jhon Duran in the closing stages of games,
allowing the Colombian – rather than Watkins – to capitalise when space opened
up as opposition defences tired.
Nonetheless, in the Premier League, Watkins missed a league-high
27 ‘big chances’ (as defined by Opta), scoring only a third of such opportunities.
That compares to a success rate of approximately 50% for peers such as Salah, Erling
Haaland, Alexander Isak and Yoane Wissa.
But while there may be room for improvement in Watkins’
finishing, he has added another string to his bow by becoming a regular creator
of goals, assisting a remarkable 27 goals over the past two campaigns.
Aged 29, Watkins may not necessarily offer a long-term
option for United but he would be a clear upgrade on their current options – if
Villa can be persuaded to sell.
Image source, BBC Sport