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Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins believes the World Cup could be a tournament for substitutes, and his club are already hard at work improving their attacking depth ahead of their return to Champions League football.
Watkins came off the bench to score England’s third goal in a 3-0 win over Costa Rica in their final warm-up friendly in Orlando.
The Villa front man was one of several introductions from the bench that added intensity to the performance, with Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Morgan Rogers all having an impact as the Central Americans tired towards the end of the game.
With the tournament being played in stifling conditions and at different altitudes, Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel will expect players to come off the bench and make a difference.
“Even being sat on the bench you can see how hot it is when you’re not even playing, let alone what the players are going through, running around at a high intensity,” said Watkins, who is set to play a role as Harry Kane’s back-up.
“The game opens up at 60-70 minutes and what better way than fresh legs to come on and show what they can do.”
Watkins was given a run out as England finalised their pre-tournament camp with a 6-0 win in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Miami FC ahead of the switch to their tournament base in Kansas City.
“I think we have worked hard continuously, a lot of days on our feet, a lot of training sessions,” he said. “Even if we haven’t been training, we have been doing a lot of meetings and set-piece meetings.
“It will be good to have some downtime before we go to Kansas.”
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Watkins racked up nearly 4,000 minutes on the pitch for Villa this season and is one of several England players facing concerns about their workload heading into the tournament, and the Midlands club have now received an update in their pursuit of attacking depth this summer.
Villa and Tottenham given agent update on striker chase
According to journalist Patrick Berger, the agent of Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy has publicly denied rumours of a deal with Turkish side Fenerbahçe.
“Serhou is currently evaluating his options for next season. Any claim of a verbal deal is simply not true.”
That opens the door for interest from England, where the Villans have already made an approach.
However, it won’t be all plain sailing for NSWE, as Tottenham are also now considering a move, with Sport Witness translating Berger’s report.
They say that ‘a departure from Dortmund remains a realistic possibility for Guirassy’ and Tottenham are ready to ‘completely overhaul Roberto de Zerbi’s squad this summer’.
An out and out number nine is apparently at the top of his list of priorities, and Guirassy’s agent is keen to open the door to options in the Premier League.
The Guinea international scored 17 times in 33 Bundesliga appearances last season, but at 30 years old is unlikely to represent a long-term investment.
Transfer seen as inevitable as Tottenham and Sunderland move to hijack rejected Newcastle bid
There is a huge race for the signature of an exciting young centre-back.
