Watkins, a goal from the Emery laboratory

Neither his coach, Unai Emery, nor anyone else at Aston Villa were surprised that Ollie Watkins (28 years old) was the author of the goal that brought England together with Spain, on Sunday in Berlin, to decide who is the champion of this European Championship. The movement of cutting the area with a diagonal from inside to outside, the oriented control that broke the Dutch centre-back De Vrij and the low cross shot to which Verbruggen reacted late are part of a personalized work since Emery arrived at the Villa Park club in October 2022. Three of his assistants, Antonio Rodríguez, Jaime Arias and Albert Carbó designed what are called analytical training sessions for him. These do not seek to improve technical aspects such as hitting the ball. What is worked on is tactical intelligence.

The aim was for Watkins to learn the areas of defence and the finishing profiles that best suit him. “He has scored the goal against the Netherlands quite a few times this season. Anyone who has seen him play this season cannot be surprised that he scored the goal with that movement. That goal is very much his own,” says a source close to the Birmingham club and close to Emery’s coaching staff. Watkins often asks for personalised videos to smooth out his flaws and enhance his virtues. It is also routine to see him stay at the end of training to practice finishing.

The exhaustive work carried out by Emery and his team has allowed Watkins to go from being a goal-scoring journeyman to becoming one of the most attractive players in the Premier League. When the Basque coach took charge of Villa, Watkins had only scored one goal. That season he finished with 15. In the last one he has exploded as a voracious goal-scorer. The 27 goals, none of them from penalties, and the 16 assists he registered in all competitions were enough for Gareth Southgate to include him in the squad for the European Championship and for his value to skyrocket. Liverpool are after him and have also been tempted by Saudi Arabia, according to sources familiar with the offers he has received. The coach and Monchi, the sporting director, have closed ranks. Watkins is untouchable, as is goalkeeper Dibu Martínez, before Villa’s participation in the next edition of the Champions League.

“When you score it’s exciting, but this was a different feeling. It was like it was in slow motion when I was running towards my team-mates and celebrating,” said a still-emotional Watkins in the press room at the Westfalenstadion.

“The amount of people who sent me messages to tell me I was going to score the winning goal was incredible. They obviously put it into the universe. Hopefully they can do the same on Sunday, and maybe give me the lottery numbers,” he joked after receiving the award for best player of the match.

Before the game, Watkins had a conversation with a Villa executive who urged him not to get down about his poor performance at this Euro. He told him that he was convinced he would score against the Netherlands if Southgate gave him the chance to play. He said he had the same feeling for the final.

The English press has been calling for Watkins to start for several days due to the lack of spark in the penalty area that captain Harry Kane has noticed. However, the Villa striker knows that he has the complex task of replacing a legend who also has the full confidence of Southgate.

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