Ollie Watkins hoped to use Aston Villa’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich to replace Harry Kane as England centre-forward.
Kane’s battle with Watkins will provide an intriguing subplot to a fascinating match. Watkins was Kane’s deputy in England’s Euro 2024 squad and the 28-year-old has established himself as one of the best centre-forwards in the Premier League since Kane departed for the Bundesliga a little more than a year ago.
Both are expected to be named in interim boss Lee Carsley’s squad this week for the Nations League fixtures against Greece and Finland. Asked about his international ambitions, Watkins said: ‘Everyone is fighting for a position on the pitch so I want to be the man to play but day in day out Harry and I have a good relationship.
‘When I’m in the camp I speak to him so there’s no animosity. I’m doing all I can to be on the pitch and so is he.
‘He’s got the records and scored the number of goals he has for a reason. He’s put in a lot of hard work over the years to get there.’
Watkins hopes Villa’s Champions League game helps his case to become England’s main man
Harry Kane is England’s captain and starting striker but was not at his best during Euro 2024
Watkins became an overnight hero when he scored the winner for England against Holland
Kane suffered a knock to his ankle during Bayern’s 1-1 draw with German champions Bayer Leverkusen last Saturday but trained on Tuesday and has travelled to Birmingham.
Bayern were the opposition for Villa’s finest hour. A goal from Peter Withe was enough to sink the German giants and ensure Villa lifted the European Cup in Rotterdam 42 years ago.
This is their first appearance in the competition since it was rebranded the Champions League, and their first all told since 1983. Unai Emery has done a remarkable job to lift Villa from top-flight strugglers to Champions League qualifiers in two years in the role, but he is concerned their defensive weaknesses will undermine them tonight/on Wednesday.
Villa have conceded 11 goals this term and kept only one clean sheet in their eight matches – the 3-0 victory over Swiss champions Young Boys in Bern last month.
Emery said: ‘We are not defending like we did last year. It is not just about the defensive players or the goalkeeper. The first defenders are the strikers and we have to work on improving the mistakes quickly. We can’t concede the goals we are doing if we want to be at the top level.’