19 Apr 2026 23:59:15
Ollie Watkins would be a good striker for us. Always puts a shift in. Usually scores a decent amount of goals each season and would not cost a fortune.
20 Apr 2026 07:31:04
Amorim wanted him.....
20 Apr 2026 11:15:29
It's an interesting conundrum. I think Watkins would have scored more goals than Sesko this year, but he would only have been a short-term solution. Sesko has been an impact sub who hasn't found his groove yet, but he clearly has huge potential.
20 Apr 2026 14:25:51
Before Villa's game yesterday, Watkins had a season total of 8 league goals. Sesko has 9 league goals. On the basis of him having one good game and scoring a hat trick, should we go and spend many millions on him? Villa would ask for a fortune. They did last summer.
This would seem to scream Match of the Day fever. He would be far too expensive, and is he really the right age profile for the club? Also, some think his performance levels have started to decline.
Should we buy him? Just my view, but no, no, indeed thrice no.
20 Apr 2026 16:18:18
I agree with IWOTB.
20 Apr 2026 16:33:45
Lol, now I just feel silly.
20 Apr 2026 17:24:16
It's only when you look at the details you see that perception is often miles off reality.
People are entitled to their perception, thoughts and ideas, but lots of the time the detail and facts show that the perception some have flies in the face of reality.
If you have any opinion the earth is flat, then that's your opinion, but the facts show something very different.
Who knows, AJH, Watkins might have scored more playing for United than he did for Villa this season, but we simply don't know that.
One thing is for sure, he is a better cf than Mbeumo is and he has been playing there recently out of position.
I think there are very few sure things when you sign anybody. Even if we sign Haaland, for example, there is no guarantee he would do as well for United as he has for City.
Picking someone like Watkins up on a free would be good business imo, but I don't think they will pay a significant fee for him nor do I think they should.
20 Apr 2026 18:58:53
If he was available for say £20m, it's a no brainer for me. This is not MOTD fever. He has been a consistent scorer of goals, and in a Villa team which, until the present manager came, was not a very good team. He works hard. Stretches defences and would be a good figure for Sesko and other younger strikers to learn from.
20 Apr 2026 22:11:06
Ken, clearly there are no guarantees that any player will perform at a predetermined level when they move clubs. There will always be an element of lottery about it.
Decisions about buying or selling a player are made by people based upon what the player is actually doing. You cannot second guess what may or may not happen, so you cannot base decisions on imponderables.
Watkins has previously performed at a high level, but this season not quite so. Indeed, seemingly Villa are looking to sell him this summer and are looking for between £30-£40m. I would certainly prefer this amount of money to be invested elsewhere.
To support the assertion his performances have not been quite as good, his 11 goals this season have taken 2472 minutes playing time.
Take away yesterday, and his stats would be 8 goals, each taking 297 minutes to score. Even with yesterday, it is a goal every 224 minutes.
If you look at Sesko, in his first season in a new league he has by no means been playing regularly; in fact, he has played 1502 minutes, but he has scored 9 goals, thus one every 166 minutes. Clearly superior to Watkins, I fully expect these figures to improve next season with improved playing time.
I still think I would prefer other options to Watkins, although if it had been a few years ago it may well have been different, and the hope of getting him on a free transfer will not happen.
21 Apr 2026 00:57:53
So you and I agree on Watkins iwotb. Please read my post. He would be a good free, but I would not like us to invest in any significant fee. i'm not hoping to sign him on a free but it would be a nice bit of experience to add to support sesko if it were the case. He has a good contract so if he moves they will get decent money probably more than we will get for rashford.
Where i disagree is that players are bought solely on what they are doing.
If that was the case clubs wouldn't be buying young players like yoro or heaven. They are bought for their potential not on what they are doing more a case of what they might be able to do.
Players doing poorly at a club will find a move and the buying clubs are hopeful that they will play better and return to form at their club.
So when someone buys garnacho and they will at some point. They will not be buying him for what he is doing at Chelsea.
Its not as black and white as you make out.
Ill bet sanco finds a club even weggy found one.
I agree there is research and a lot of homework done like i'm sure there was before we signed sancho di Maria sanchez but sometimes it just doesn't work for any amount of reasons.
By your reckoning nobody would try to sign a player that's flopped elsewhere.
Coaches believe they can be the manager to rekindle players, and they often do despite their manky previous stats.
So many reasons why some signings work and why ones that look nailed on don't work and fail. Miki or pogba for example.
Humans by our very nature are not robotic so often one man's rubbish is another man's gold.
Twist seskos stats a different way and they will look worse than Watkins. Read them another way and they look better.
In many ways the stats of goals per min are totally irrelevant with both players playing in different teams so they are not comparable in any way. All they tell you is how they are both doing in their respective teams it tells you very little of how they would do in the other team playing with different players doing different roles etc.
I would imagine that their would be dozens of other and much more indepth and comparable statistics and data they would be referencing in their analysis to determine any players suitability.
Even then if they get all that right, if a player doesn't settle, doesn't bond in the dressing room, if his wife doesn't settle, if his kids don't like school, and the list goes on, all the above and dozens more reasons why signings often don't replicate what they were doing elsewhere.
So imo they are very few sure things.
Ive done zero analysis on this @shappy for next school holiday. But it would be very interesting to see a list of all 50m plus signings in the epl and see them rated hit or miss. But I bet my bottom dollar there is more flops and i'd also bet every chairman and every coach and lots of stats said they would all be hits. These days there seems to be many more misses than hits despite all the analysis in the world never mind incomparable ones.
Personally I think 95%of signings are 100% gamble. I sort of consider any guess as a gamble even educated guesses. Facts and figures are used to mitigate risk but when it comes to humans then most of it goes out the window.
Would di Maria have been a success at city? Would sancez? Would gazza have a better life now if he signed for fergie. All maybe cases of wrong place at the right time. All down to how they felt.
But we do agree on not investing in a significant fee for Watkins despite him being a very good player. His goals per min don't tell how many games he has played in front of a villa midfield without their 2 1st choices its no coincidence his stats dropped without them. You gave context of sesko being young and in a new league but offered no reasoning or context as to why Watkins has had a dip in productivity. Its not the most objective insight ?? I think both midfielders played yesterday and he got a couple.
Its not black and white and all about what they are doing this season a lot more is tremendous into consideration.
21 Apr 2026 07:39:28
Holy cr@p, Ken! Have you borrowed Shappy's keyboard?
{Ed025's Note - love it Keefy..
21 Apr 2026 07:55:00
Beat me to it, Keefy. ??
21 Apr 2026 08:43:55
Good post, Ken. Glad that it was the abridged version. ? I can see Watkins being like Dwight Yorke in that he was undervalued by some Utd fans until he moved to Utd.