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Dean Smith reveals 'biggest problem' Ollie Watkins will never suffer again after England heroics

Dean Smith signed Ollie Watkins for Aston Villa in 2020 after recruiting him for Brentford from Exeter in 2017

Dean Smith has praised Ollie Watkins' development
Dean Smith has praised Ollie Watkins' development(Image: Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

Dean Smith says it's a pleasure to see how Ollie Watkins has developed after the striker fired England into the Euro 2024 final on Wednesday night.


The Aston Villa forward came off the bench to bag a 90th-minute winner for the Three Lions against the Netherlands. His former Villa and Brentford boss Smith is now watching his development from afar with a great deal of pride.


"The reaction was to dance around my apartment in Charlotte to be honest," Smith told the BBC. "It was a fantastic finish, a great ball from Cole Palmer, but something that I have seen Ollie Watkins do an awful lot.


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"It wasn’t instinct, that’s repetitive practice. One that Richard O’Kelly will be happy with because I’ve seen him taking Ollie Watkins a lot on finishing sessions and scoring lots of goals like that.

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"I actually saw him play when I was managing Walsall and I went to watch him play for Weston-super-Mare. He was on loan there from Exeter. A friend of mine who was at Exeter at the time had told me about him.

"I liked his attitude, his application and he had all the tools. I think the biggest problem was he had a little bit of imposter syndrome at the time and wasn’t sure where he was. He has just grown and grown as a player.

"There are not many players that I buy twice and I bought him at Brentford from Exeter and then for Aston Villa. He became the record signing for Villa and he never let me down.

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"He has never let me down and he’s just grown. He made his England debut while he was with Villa, while I was there with him. It’s just been a pleasure to see, you know, how he’s grown."

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