Joe Thomlinson, Dougie Critchley and Chris Hamill spent some time talking about Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion and Fulham ahead of their Premier League returns next season during the latest edition of Football Daily’s Sunday Vibes and one of the topics of discussion that came up during the show is the possibility of Leeds signing Brentford striker Ollie Watkins.
Watkins is coming off the back of an impressive 2019/20 campaign in the Championship. He ended the season as the second-highest goalscorer in England’s second-tier, scoring 25 times in his 46 appearances during the regular Championship season.
The 24-year-old attacker also earned an impressive overall rating of 7.28 from his 46 games during the regular Championship term, according to WhoScored, giving him the seventh-highest overall rating of any player to have played more than the average number of minutes in England’s second-tier during the campaign.
The Brentford man scored nine more goals than Leeds United’s highest goalscorer, Patrick Bamford, for the 2019/20 Championship campaign and he also earned a higher overall rating than any Leeds player in the league last season, as per WhoScored, so it may not be too surprising to see that the forward has been linked with a move to Elland Road following Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League.
Watkins’ current team, Brentford, failed to earn promotion to England’s top-flight via the play-offs and reports have claimed that the Bees’ failure to earn promotion means that Watkins can now ‘leave for offers of more than £18m,’ as per the BBC.
Thomlinson shared his thoughts on the possibility of the 24-year-old joining Leeds during this recent edition of Football Daily’s Sunday Vibes, saying: “He’d be a great signing for, probably, five or six Premier League clubs, I think, this summer.
“Maybe you’re Aston Villa and you’re thinking ‘we need more firepower going forward’ – Dean Smith worked with him at Brentford and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that move happen, or maybe a little bit higher up the table – Southampton will be looking to get Europa League football next season: are they going to put all of their eggs in Danny Ings’ basket? We know he’s got a quite dodgy injury record, they could probably do with a little bit more firepower to support him up there.
“I would be surprised if Leeds were able to get hold of Ollie Watkins. At £18m, I think even the likes of Tottenham might be interested, as a backup to Harry Kane.”
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It appears that Thomlinson believes that Leeds will face plenty of competition for Watkins’ signature this summer if they are to sign him from Brentford and knowing how well he performed in the Championship last season, that may not come as a big surprise.
Competition from more established Premier League sides may make it difficult for the newly-promoted Whites to sell Watkins the idea of joining Leeds.