Express & Star

Garry Thompson: I love Ollie Watkins' ‘swagger’ at Aston Villa

Garry Thompson reckons Ollie Watkins is destined to be the next Holte End hero at Villa.

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Record signing Watkins has enjoyed an impressive start to life at Villa after joining in a £28million deal from Brentford.

The 24-year-old has scored five goals in his first six appearances and opened his Premier League account with a hat-trick against Liverpool.

Former Villa striker Thompson is among those tipping Watkins for big things. He said: “From the word go you could see he had a swagger about him, which I think any decent forward needs.

“What I also like about him is that if he misses a chance he doesn’t shy away from the next one. He is brave enough to keep putting himself in the position to score, makes intelligent runs and works his socks off.

“He’d done a lot of hard running in the first two Premier League matches without getting on the scoresheet. Now he’s off the mark you would expect him to kick on.

“If he continues the way he has started then he is going to be firm fans’ favourite. The effort he puts in, they are just going to love him.”