TBR View: Aston Villa star Watkins is making a mockery of Merson’s pre-season comments

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Aston Villa splashed out £28million (BBC) to sign Ollie Watkins from Brentford in the summer, which is a decision that has turned out to be a masterstroke from manager Dean Smith.

After spending his career developing in the English Football League, Villa decided to take a punt on the 24-year-old by bringing him to the top-flight for the first time and the rewards have been immense.

The English centre-forward has already netted eight times in 10 games this season across all competitions, with six of the goals coming in the Premier League.

He’s a versatile attacker with plenty of pace and strength that has slotted effortlessly into the XI at Villa Park.

The £75,000-a-week (Spotrac) star recorded a famous hat-trick in the 7-2 victory over Liverpool earlier in the season, plus he scored a brace at the weekend to help beat Arsenal 3-0 in the final match before the international break.

Pundit Paul Merson made comments pre-season that he had serious reservations about Villa spending so much on an unknown talent and pointed towards the fact he failed to get Brentford over the line last season with promotion from the Championship.

But Watkins is making a mockery of his comments with a sensational start to life in the Premier League and he’s been exactly what Villa have been lacking in the final third.

“Spending £28m for a player who has never kicked a ball in the Premier League is a lot of money. It’s a gamble,” Merson told the Daily Star two days before the start of the Premier League season.

“He scored a lot of goals last season but I like to see what players do when the pressure’s on, and at the back end of the season, I didn’t see too much.”

Watkins looks a natural at Premier League level that should only get better with more experience and he looks good for 15-plus goals during his debut season with the Midlands giants.

There has been some excellent transfer business made by Villa in the past couple of transfer windows and their recent level of recruitment deserves massive applause, with Watkins the latest success story.