Life has completely changed for Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins after his heroics for England against the Netherlands.
The 28-year-old produced probably the best moment of his career and wrote his name in England folklore.
Ollie Watkins’ last-minute winner for England against the Netherlands booked his side’s Euro 2024 final ticket and with a chance to write history like never before.
England fans have waited nearly 60 years for the country to win silverware on the global stage and Spain stand in the way of that hurt finally coming to an end.
Ahead of the showpiece final in Berlin on Sunday, some are calling for Aston Villa‘s Player of the Season to start the match instead of Harry Kane.
The Bayern Munich star seems to be suffering from an injury because he is moving slower than ever before, isn’t making runs in behind and is frustrating supporters.
The run Watkins made inside the penalty box, before scoring his goal, was a prime example because Kane simply wouldn’t have done that.
As mentioned above, some want the Villa man to start against Spain, but Paul Merson had completely and utterly different thoughts.
The former Villa forward brutally claimed that the England hero ‘might be lucky’ if he gets on the pitch for Spain, never mind starting, as he told Euros Football Greatest.
The Sky Sports pundit highlighted how Gareth Southgate seemed to have pushed Ivan Toney as the second-choice striker and he was coming off the bench a few times, including scoring his ice-cool penalty against Switzerland.
But Southgate called upon Watkins for the Dutch game, as Merson thinks it could now fall back the other way, even if the Villa hitman produced one of the greatest moments in English football history.
Should Watkins start for England v Spain in the Euro 2024 final?
On if Watkins starts the final: “He might be lucky if he gets on,” responded Merson. “I say that because, who would have thought Toney wouldn’t have gone on before Ollie Watkins the other day?!
“Watkins plays the first or second game and comes on as a sub (against Denmark). We don’t see him again. Then Toney comes on. He takes a penalty in one of the games (Switzerland). Amazing. The game before that (Slovakia), he sets up the winning goal. All of a sudden, Gareth (Southgate) could have easily gone with Toney.
“So, no, Harry Kane starts. You put your best team out. This is the big advantage with England, we make substitutions and we don’t weaken the team. Or if we do weaken it, it isn’t by much.”
Gareth Southgate needs to be pro-active with Ollie Watkins
By all means, start Kane. He is the captain. Class is permanent and you just have to back your star striker to deliver.
But Southgate simply can’t wait too long to bring Watkins into the action if it isn’t going right.
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This is where he needs to be pro-active again, and have the bottle to take off Kane if things aren’t going well and he is playing poorly.
The issue is, you don’t trust Southgate to do that, and by the time Watkins touches the turf again, the game by just be beyond England because this Spain team is ruthless, vibrant and full of attacking flair.
Others might be surprised by what they saw against the Dutch, but what Watkins did is what Villa fans have seen many times before.
