Steven Gerrard Manager
A straight-faced Steven Gerrard was quick to dampen any transfer speculation involving Aston Villa top-scorer Ollie Watkins, stopping a reporter mid-question to say: “Going nowhere!” According to national reports this week, Moyes and West Ham believe they have “a strong chance” in persuading Watkins to move to the London Stadium, with Villa perhaps open to making a substantial profit on the £33million they paid Brentford for the goal ace back in the summer of 2020. Ahead of Crystal Palace on Sunday, Gerrard was asked about the transfer chatter involving Watkins – scorer of 26 goals in 73 appearances for Villa –
Steven Gerrard replied: “Going nowhere! If you ask me, [he’s] going nowhere. Going nowhere. We love him. We’re really enjoying working with him. To take this challenge where we want to take it, we need goalscorers. We need top players and Ollie Watkins, for me, is a top player so I’ll fight as hard as I need to fight if that ever comes. It’s not because I know the owners, and I know Christian Purslow and I know Johan Lange are on the same page. We want to build this around the likes of Ollie Watkins. We’re delighted with him so, yeah, it’s a straight no!”
On Watkins’ strengths,
Steven Gerrard added: “I think he’s capable as playing as a left forward, a No.9 and I definitely think he’s capable of playing from the right because he’s naturally right footed. People were telling me he couldn’t play with Danny Ings not too long ago and, for me, he can play in a two and a focal point as a lone [striker]. His versatility is a big draw for me and it’s a big draw for Gareth [Southgate] going into tournaments, knowing you’ve got someone who can play across a front three. He’s very robust. He makes a lot of defenders think about him for all of the game. You can never switch off because he’s so effective out of possession. He’s very selfless. I think his numbers have been affected this year because he’s been too honest – maybe too selfless for the team. Obviously, he’s been more consistent of late because he’s possibly been a little bit more selfish in front of goal. He’s rewarding himself for all of his good work but, for me, when I’m judging a forward it’s what does he offer you out of possession and what does he give you in possession? For me, he ticks both boxes. I know he’s capable of getting his numbers up, he proved that last year and he’s out as our leading scorer this year so, for me, it doesn’t make any sense at all to even listen to any speculation around Ollie Watkins.”
