Ollie Watkins is right to be frustrated by his lack of minutes at this summer’s European Championship, according to Gabby Agbonlahor.
The Aston Villa striker scored 19 goals and provided 13 assists in 37 Premier League appearances last season.
Everyone and their dog always knew that his incredible statistics were never going to be enough to displace Harry Kane for England or see Watkins come in for one of Bukayo Saka or Phil Foden.
In truth, he could have scored and assisted double what he did and Gareth Southgate still would have benched him at Euro 2024.
Watkins’ only minutes at Euro 2024 came off the bench in the 1-1 draw against Denmark, replacing Kane in the 70th minute in what was a pretty bold call for someone like Southgate.
He has been an unused substitute in every other game, despite England chasing goals against Slovenia on matchday three in the group stage and Slovakia in the last 16.
Southgate made a grand total of one change in the first 83 minutes against Slovakia, despite being 1-0 down from the 26th minute.
The England manager eventually turned to Eberechi Eze six minutes from time and Ivan Toney…in the 94th minute.
The Brentford striker was pretty annoyed at Southgate for that and Watkins was probably relieved not to have been chucked on when it appeared to be far too late.
Luckily for Southgate, Jude Bellingham popped up with a 95th-minute overhead kick to save his job and England’s tournament.
England would end up winning in extra time when Kane headed in Toney’s assist, which will probably see him leapfrog Watkins in Southgate’s striker pecking order.
Watkins – who has three goals in 13 caps – coming on to partner Kane up front is a definite option for the Three Lions boss and former Aston Villa striker Agbonlahor believes there is a place for the 28-year-old in this England team.
Agbonlahor says Kane “is doing nothing”, while Foden and Saka could be dropped to bring Watkins into the starting XI.
“It just doesn’t make sense, everyone watching the game can see the fact that Harry Kane is doing nothing,” he said. “Foden is not working on the left, Saka wasn’t at his best.
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“Make the changes, it’s not rocket science, Watkins is hungry, look when he came on earlier in the tournament, he’s there making runs in behind.
“That’s what we needed yesterday [v Slovakia] but because Harry Kane scored now, that’s why you keep him on, he’s a goalscorer, no, Watkins would have scored that goal, Toney would have scored that goal, make the right changes. Anyone is droppable.”