West Ham were beaten to Ollie Watkins by Aston Villa but now the striker could finally end up at the London Stadium at the perfect time after a revealing admission to Alan Pardew.
There is a parallel Premier League universe where Ollie Watkins has been playing in the claret and blue of West Ham for the last five years instead of Aston Villa.
Both Steven Gerrard and Unai Emery stated publicly that the Hammers were a benchmark for Aston Villa to follow after the rise of the east Londoners following the return of David Moyes in 2020.
Three consecutive seasons in Europe and a first major trophy for 43 years marked West Ham out as a blueprint to follow for Villa as far as both Gerrard and Emery were concerned.
Aston Villa have arguably gone on to surpass West Ham by competing in the Champions League, although they have failed to land an all-important trophy as yet.
One of the big reasons for the shift in the trajectories of the two clubs was landing a top quality striker at the right time.
Moyes’ deep regret at West Ham missing out to Villa for Watkins
While the Hammers dragged their heels and failed – still to this very day – to sign a replacement for Michail Antonio, Villa went out and beat them to Watkins.
Ex Hammers boss Moyes twice opened up on his major regret at West Ham missing out on Watkins to the Villans.
When he was still at West Ham, Moyes was asked why he had not been able to find an heir to Antonio.
And the Scot admitted his biggest regret on that front was not signing the one who got away Watkins.
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“We’ve tried for years to find people that we believed might be right (as West Ham’s next main striker),” Moyes said, as reported by The Evening Standard at the time.
“If you look back over the last two or three years at the number of centre-forwards named (in the media as targets) that might be coming here, there might be quite a lot of them that have failed and they wouldn’t have been any good.
“We’ve missed out on ones we would’ve like when you look back, maybe Ollie Watkins, people like that. But it’s a journey, sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don’t.”
Moyes also conceded to Birmingham World that the Irons wanted Watkins after he scored against his Hammers side.
“Yeah, we did (make a move for Watkins) when he was at Brentford,” Moyes said.
“He scored a good goal today.”
West Ham can finally sign Watkins after what Villa star told Pardew
Scoring and – as a result – game time, have become big issues for the soon-to-be 30-year-old, though.
Now that could mean West Ham can finally sign Watkins after what the Aston Villa star told Alan Pardew.
The former West Ham boss has shared what Watkins told him ahead of the January transfer window – and the Hammers simply must pounce to save their Premier League lives.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Pardew claims Watkins ‘wants to move’ to a new club where he is the main starting striker in January.
It comes after a slow start to the season which has seen Watkins score just one goal for Villa in 19 appearances thus far.
Donyell Malen is even being preferred up front for Aston Villa by Emery.
And former West Ham manager Pardew believes the time has now come for the 29-year-old to leave Villa Park.
Indeed, Pardew states Watkins actually wants to leave for pastures new, suggesting the forward’s relationship with Emery is ‘broken’.
“I think Ollie wants to move, if I’m honest,” Pardew said.
“And I think he has a fairly good reason because when they got to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and he got left out for a player on loan in (Marcus) Rashford in both ties.
“(He is) the high profile guy, he’d earned the right with all the goals that had got them there and then he doesn’t play.
“I just think there’s a bridge burned there that is difficult to come back from. I do think that relationship is broken. I might be wrong, but looking at his body language and everything else about him, probably best for everybody for him to move on.
“He’s a great player and to get into the England frame, he might need to move on.”
Sliding doors moment for West Ham and Watkins
Watkins has two-and-a-half years left on his contract at Villa, so West Ham would have to pay a decent fee to land him.
But turning 31 next season and in the worst form of his career, Watkins’ hopes of a move to an elite club – after links with Arsenal and Man United in recent times – look to have gone.
With the World Cup at the end of the season, Watkins will want to be starting games week in, week out to earn a place in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad.
And West Ham will be among the biggest clubs capable of signing him where that will be the case.
Nuno Espirito Santo is desperate for a dependable goalscorer and the club’s owners are ready to back the Portuguese with a striker signing in January.
So this development could open the door to West Ham’s most exciting and logical striker move in years.
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