Ollie Watkins may be yet to get off the mark this season but his goalscoring exploits last season are sure to live long in Aston Villa fans’ memories.
Aston Villa enjoyed an incredibly successful 2023/24 season as they qualified for the Champions League alongside a run to the semi-final of the Europa Conference League.
Ollie Watkins was integral to this achievement, with the striker scoring 27 goals and providing 13 assists in all competitions in what was the best individual season of the 28-year-old’s career.
Watkins has gone from strength to strength since the arrival of Unai Emery at Villa in late 2022, with the Spanish manager helping the centre-forward develop a ruthless streak that was not previously apparent.
This culminated in Watkins firing England to the Euro 2024 final with a last-gasp winner over the Netherlands in the semi-final in what was surely the best moment of the striker’s career.
- READ MORE: John McGinn shares how he truly felt when Aston Villa star Ollie Watkins scored at Euro 2024
Ollie Watkins second only to Harry Kane for goal contributions since joining Aston Villa
Watkins’ international exploits saw him miss pre-season and the Villa marksman has not been his usually razor-sharp self at the start of the new campaign as a result.
The former Brentford man took the decision not to join up with England during this international break as a result, with a minor injury cited as the reason.
- READ MORE: Gabriel Agbonlahor reacts to Ollie Watkins leaving England squad and returning to Aston Villa
Whilst Watkins reached a whole new level last season, a statistic has now emerged that shows that the striker has performed consistently well since signing for Villa in 2020.
That is because a review of the data held by FBREF shows that Harry Kane is the only English player to register more goal contributions in the Premier League than the centre-forward since his Villa arrival.
Watkins has ten less Premier League goals than Harry Kane since signing for Aston Villa
Incredibly, despite the fact Kane left Tottenham in summer 2023, the Bayern Munich striker has 96 Premier League goal contributions in his three years in the division following Watkins joining Villa.
Watkins is second out of the English players, with his 86 contributions split 59 goals and 27 assists.
This is six ahead of Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka in the same period who is in third on 80, with Phil Foden on 72.
Fifth and sixth on the list are Jarrod Bowen and James Maddison, on 69 and 67 respectively.
This is testament to the quality of Watkins since making the step up to the Premier League and he will be convinced that once he gets off the mark this season the goals will flow once more to close in on Kane at the top of the list.
