Gareth Southgate makes England decision on Aston Villa star Ollie Watkins – David Ornstein

David Ornstein has reported that Gareth Southgate has decided to recall Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins to the England squad.

The 27-year-old has been a stellar form this season and was decent last term as well but failed to establish himself as a regular for Southgate’s Three Lions side.

However, his numbers recently have been too hard to ignore and the national team head coach is spot on to recall him to the side.

Via Twitter, Ornstein wrote, “Gareth Southgate recalls Ollie Watkins to England squad for 1st time since March 2022. Aston Villa striker has 7 club goals this season – including a hat-trick vs Brighton last time out. 27yo has 2 goals in 7 apps for #ENG.”

Watkins often played out wide for Brentford and even during his Villa career he’s drifted to the flanks, offering a multi-dimensional attacking threat.

He was faulted for how clinical he’s been in front of goal last season but never for his overall contribution – making him a manager’s dream.

This season, apart from the four league goals, he’s also got three assists to his name and that’s not something that gets spoken about often.

It’s fair to say that with Ivan Toney missing in action, if anything happens to Harry Kane, Watkins has to be the second-best option to bring in.

The Aston Villa forward offers a lot more than Kane in terms of his ability to stretch defences and if England are chasing a game, Kane can play as a 10 with Watkins leading the line – making it a fluid front four with the two wide players as well.

Watkins is also involved in 2.65 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes and a non-penalty xG of 0.5 which shows that apart from being clinical, he’s also finding himself in the right place at the right time and is being involved in the build up as well.

In other Aston Villa news, a senior first-team player recently risked being out for 3 months with a leg break and artery damage.