SAINTS youngster Caleb Watts is set to become an Olympian this summer, after being confirmed in Australia’s squad for Tokyo 2020. The 19-year-old, who has represented his country at under-17 and under-23 level, is set to be part of the Olyroos group making their return to the Games for the first time since 2008. It caps what has been a breakthrough season for Watts, who made his Saints senior debut against Shrewsbury in the FA Cup back in January. Watts had the choice of either representing England or Australia when he was younger, having been born in England to an Australian father. Asked why he chose to represent the Aussies,
Caleb Watts said: “There’s a lot of national pride associated with playing for Australia. Making my grandparents proud, making my dad proud, I feel a real affinity towards the country, probably more so than I do England. I think that England team at the time looked quite difficult to get into, there was a lot of competition. I also really liked what the (Australian) coach, when he came to visit, had to say.”
Now selected as part of the Olympic line-up, Watts will be part of the 16-nation tournament held between July 21 and August 7. Australia have been drawn in Group E alongside Egypt, Spain and Argentina. Watts came off the bench three times for Saints in the Premier League last season, during games against Arsenal, Everton and Manchester City. And he believes being in and around Saints’ first-team every day helped him develop as a player.
Caleb Watts said: “It’s been a huge learning curve. Seeing first-team players all the time. Seeing their habits. Players like Prowsey, you can pick up so much knowledge and information from how they operate on a day-to-day basis. My target was to just get around the first team as much as possible. I thought last season I had a pretty weak season just because of the injuries etc and I knew I was capable of more. But if I’m honest I probably didn’t see me getting this much time in the first team, but because of injuries and how I’ve performed it’s allowed me to have quite a good year I feel.”
