Ollie Watkins: “I’d say I’m a fighter”

Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins has forged a path to the top flight of English football that has been anything but conventional – a decade-long journey to become an overnight success

Words: Jack Stanley

Photography: Rhys Frampton

Styling: Zak Maoui

Earlier this season, Ollie Watkins was preparing for arguably the most important game in his club career. His team, Aston Villa, were due to play Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes in the French capital. It was the quarter-final of the Champions League, the first time that Villa had reached that stage of the competition since they lost to Juventus in 1983. As the game approached, Watkins’ phone lit up.

“My mate messaged me to say it was 10 years ago that we were playing together for Weston-Super-Mare,” he says. “Fast forward 10 years and I’m playing at PSG, while he’s still at Weston-Super-Mare.” The text was a reminder of Watkins’ unconventional journey to the top of European football, one that didn’t begin in an elite academy and instead started in the scrappy lower levels of the game. Receiving that message gave Watkins a chance to look back and remember where it all began. “I look back on them as good times, and don’t think too much of it,” he adds. “Maybe that’s something I need to do – to stop and try to enjoy the moments a bit more.”

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That season playing in the Conference South for Weston-Super-Mare was Watkins’ first proper introduction to professional football. He arrived as a fresh-faced 18-year-old, scoring 10 goals and helping the team finish 17th in the sixth level of English football. At the end of the season, Watkins returned to Exeter with a spring in his step. The next season was the beginning of a remarkable rise through the football league. After two seasons at Exeter, he signed for Brentford in the Championship. Despite being two levels higher, he prospered. In his third season, he scored 25 as the team narrowly missed out on promotion. It was only a matter of time before his next step up. That summer, Aston Villa came calling and Watkins was finally set to play in the Premier League. It wasn’t the route that most players take to the top division, but it was one that shaped Watkins and continues to influence his game. Watkins grew up in Devon, an area that isn’t known for its football. There are no top level clubs, no luxurious academies and no obvious route into the professional game. Watkins began playing for local youth teams before joining Exeter aged nine and working his way up. This experience gave him his resilience and his determination, one game at a time, to keep moving forward.

“I always believe that something good is around the corner”

“I’m glad I’ve had that journey from the lower leagues, I wouldn’t change it,” Watkins says now, looking back on his rise through the divisions. “It’s made me appreciate the little things. Every week in League Two I had to fight and battle.” Compared to other players of his calibre, Watkins can come across as quiet and reserved, but his time further down the football pyramid has given him a resolve and a drive to succeed. “I’d say I’m a fighter,” he says. “Even through bad times, just keep going. If it’s not going well, then I always believe that something good is around the corner. It’s not always going to be like that. The bad time will pass and it will soon come good.”

It’s this approach that has helped Watkins adapt to each new stage of his career. It equipped him for the step up from Exeter to Brentford and again for the jump to Aston Villa. Now, playing in the Champions League or in major tournaments with England, this mindset is still an important part of Watkins’ game. These new heights of his career, however, were not what Watkins dreamt about growing up. Playing against Gosport Borough and Staines Town a decade ago, the thought of lining up for England in a major tournament, or turning out against European heavyweights for Villa, must have felt like a different world.

“Whenever I was playing when I was younger, and then when I went out on loan, it was always about the next game, I wasn’t thinking too far ahead,” he says. “I learnt that football could change very quickly; if someone was injured or something, you could be in the team. I was always quite optimistic, but I never looked too far ahead.” The Champions League, he says, wasn’t even in his thoughts back then. “I never dreamt of it when I was a kid, I never thought about it. When you hear players say they want to play Champions League, I understand it now. It’s the highest quality of football there is. You’re testing yourself against the very best. I’m loving it.”

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The fact that Watkins is now playing at this level shows how much things have changed for him over the last decade. As well as guiding Aston Villa through their first Champions League run for more than 40 years, he’s also become an important part of the England team. Last season, it was his 90th-minute goal that sent England through to the final of Euro 2024. “Coming on in any game and scoring is an amazing feeling, but to send your country through to a final like that was a special moment,” he remembers. After he scored, there was a second or two of confusion as the ball hit the net. Then he was off, the grin spreading across his face as he ran towards the England fans, gesturing for his teammates to join him in celebration. “I think you can see from my reaction that it was an unbelievable feeling.”

Off the pitch, things have changed a lot as well. Watkins’ daughter was born in 2020, with a son following two years later. Family has always been important to Watkins, but having children and starting a family of his own has changed him. “It’s given me a different outlook on life,” he says. “When I come home to them, I’m not thinking about my bad game or anything like that. I’m just thinking about making them happy, doing what I can to be a good dad. It takes your mind away from football. It gives you a different outlook; you can’t be thinking about football all the time. They give me the energy I need to go and perform. They’re definitely a big key to my success.”

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That success is continuing into this season for Watkins and Aston Villa. The club are in a densely packed fight for Champions League qualification, and an FA Cup semi final holds the tantalising prospect of their first trophy for almost 30 years. Alongside all of that, there are the European nights that have returned to Villa Park after more than 40 years away. For a whole generation of fans, this is the first time they’ve seen their club in Europe. The team have delivered, with famous wins over European royalty including Bayern Munich and Celtic on their way to the quarter finals.

“Villa Park really is a fortress when the fans are singing and we’re playing well,” Watkins says. “It’s been a long time since there’s been Champions League football at Villa Park. A lot of fans haven’t seen it before this season, so it’s an exciting time for the club, for us as players and for everyone involved at the club.” That doesn’t mean that the team are resting on their laurels, though. For all the excitement of this season, for all the famous European nights and important wins, Watkins is keen that this is the start of something bigger. “We don’t want it to be a one-off – we want to make it a regular occurrence.”

A big part of the team’s European adventure, and domestic success, is the manager. It’s easy to forget that when Unai Emery took over at Aston Villa in 2022 the team had started slowly and were hovering just outside the relegation zone. What has happened since is a transformation at all levels. The mood around the club has changed completely – after a rocky couple of years, Aston Villa are back where they belong; a sleeping giant no longer.

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“He’s completely turned the club around,” Watkins adds. “All the players believe in what he’s trying to get across, the detail he goes into is unbelievable. We have a lot of meetings. He’s really demanding. I think everyone has nothing but good words to say about him. So far, it’s been a pleasure.” Under Emery, Watkins has prospered. Last season he scored 19 goals in the league, and this season he isn’t far behind. Emery has also complemented Watkins with other elite attackers – most notably Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio – to help the England striker thrive.

“He has the team playing a certain way and that helps me,” he says. “I’m getting more chances, we have a lot more of the ball. The better the team is playing, the more it helps me. He’s helped me individually, but building that team and getting us playing the football we play has naturally helped everyone improve. We’re just always pushing for more. We haven’t won anything yet. That’s what we’re striving to do. I want to win something with Villa. It’s been so long since the club have won anything. It would be a special time for the club if we did that.”

A trophy for Aston Villa is just one of Watkins’ ambitions. He’s desperate for the club to succeed, to be able to reward the fans for their support and to make sure that the good times keep rolling, and he’s also got his own personal aims. Chief among them is joining the select group of players to score more than 100 Premier League goals. Currently, there are only 34 players to have achieved this feat and Watkins hopes to join the list sooner rather than later: “Not many people can say they’ve done that, and I’m not too far away.”

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On top of that, there are Watkins’ England ambitions. “There’s the World Cup with England,” he says, looking forward to the 2026 tournament. “The aim is to win, not just to participate. If you look at the players we have, there’s so much talent. With the new manager, I think we can do it.” Watkins was called up for Thomas Tuchel’s first squad as England manager, but had to withdraw with an injury. Considering his recent form – and his heroics for England last year – he’s sure to play a big role as Tuchel’s leadership reaches a crescendo with next summer’s tournament.

When Watkins speaks, he comes across as reserved and thoughtful, a humble player and a devoted family man. But just because he tries not to look too far forward, it doesn’t mean he’s not ambitious. Whether it’s his aims for Aston Villa or England, or even just the personal targets that he sets for himself, there’s the same steely focus that has helped him climb through the divisions. Based on everything Watkins has achieved so far – from growing up in Exeter to the top table of European football; from Weston-Super-Mare to the Parc des Princes – you wouldn’t bet against him achieving a whole lot more.