‘Ollie Watkins woke up today and chose violence’
Ollie Watkins has hit back at Troy Deeney on social media after the former Watford attacker said he was a “winger trying to be a striker.”
Watkins bagged his 19th league goal of the season as Aston Villa stunned Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates, delivering a devastating blow to the Gunners’ title hopes.
The Villa striker is now only one goal behind Erling Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot.
But last month, Deeney said Watkins was a “winger trying to be a striker.”
Speaking on talkSPORT, the ex-Birmingham and Watford attacker said he would take Ivan Toney over Watkins in the England squad for EURO 2024.
Explaining why, he said: “With Ollie, this is going to sound negative but I promise you it is not, he is a winger trying to be a striker. That’s just who he is. He is very good at being a striker, but when Ivan stepped up and took that penalty [versus Belgium] did you think he was going to miss? I didn’t.
“Whenever Ollie runs through one-vs-one during many games this season, I’m still not convinced he is going to score. I think he will score eventually if you give him three or four shots a game. Ivan just has that borderline arrogance about him that makes me go: ‘Right, stick Ivan in there’.”
Watkins clearly hadn’t forgotten the words, as he hit back at Deeney in a post on Instagram on Sunday evening.
Sharing a picture of himself celebrating his goal at the Emirates, the former Brentford striker tagged Deeney and wrote: “Not bad for a winger trying to be a striker.”
Reacting to the post on social media, one person wrote: “Ollie woke up today and chose violence.”
Another said: “Ollie Watkins with the s**thousery.”
Watkins has been in record-breaking form this season, setting a new club record at Villa for goal involvements in a single Premier League campaign.
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