Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins is expected to receive an offer to extend his contract at the club, according to manager Unai Emery.
When did Ollie Watkins join Aston Villa?
England’s seven-cap international first arrived in the Midlands from Premier League rivals Brentford back in 2020, and during his three years at the club so far, he’s clocked up a total of 116 appearances to date whilst becoming one of the most integral members of the manager’s squad.
The Villans centre-forward still has another two years to run on his deal, but having emerged as his side’s both offensive and overall best-performing player last season with a WhoScored match rating of 6.96, he’s bound to attract some kind of interest during the ongoing window.
Back in April, the Daily Mail reported that the 27-year-old had entered talks regarding putting pen to paper on an extension, but obviously, nothing has since come to fruition and it’s important that it does should NSWE and Monchi not want to lose their prized asset.
Is Ollie Watkins signing a new contract at Aston Villa?
As per Birmingham's Live John Townley, Emery was asked where Aston Villa were at with regards to fresh terms for Watkins, to which the manager gave a hugely promising response.
He said: "The idea is of course to extend his contract because we are very happy with him and he is our striker, not only him because we also have Jhon Duran and Cameron Archer. We have to use every player and we need other players as well to help and support us. Ollie Watkins’ experiences, his capacity and his commitment to Aston Villa is very important and it’s very important to try and get him for a long time."
How many goals has Ollie Watkins scored?
In the Premier League last season, Watkins racked up 21 goal contributions (15 goals and six assists) over the course of the campaign so played a major role in the club’s success having secured qualification for the Europa Conference League, and being offered a new contract would be nothing less than the striker deserves.
The Under Armour client, who earns £75k-per-week, also recorded a total of 84 shots which was the highest number out of the whole of the squad, via FBRef, and even proved to be an extremely useful target man, averaging 1.9 aerial wins per top-flight game, displaying the excellent physical presence that he has up top.
The Torquay-born talent, who has the versatility to operate in six different positions across the attack, has additionally been dubbed the “perfect” player for his impressive performances by journalist Josh Bunting and it is hard to imagine what the boss would have done without him at his disposal during the previous term.
Aston Villa will obviously want to continue spending their summer bringing in even more fresh faces having already secured the signings of Youri Tielemans, Pau Torres and Moussa Diaby, but it's equally as important that Emery is able to retain the services of Watkins because there's no doubt that he will carry on being a key player for his side moving forward.