Danny Murphy believes Ollie Watkins is not quite at the level of a ‘top-tier’ striker.
The Aston Villa striker has broken multiple scoring records for the club across his time at Villa Park.
Since joining from Brentford in 2020, Watkins has scored 86 goals in 218 appearances across all competitions.
His goal against Newcastle pulled him level with Gabby Agbonlahor as the club’s all-time leading Premier League scorer.
He is also the first Aston Villa to score 15 or more goals in three consecutive Premier League seasons.
However, Marcus Rashford has recently been favoured by Unai Emery for Villa’s biggest matches.
The on-loan forward was selected ahead of Watkins for both legs of their Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Watkins admitted he was ‘fuming’ with the decision after making a scoring return to the starting line-up last weekend.
Speaking after the win over Newcastle, he explained: “I played 20 minutes against PSG in both games, so I’m not going to lie – I was fuming I wasn’t playing.
“I let him (Emery) know that. He’s the manager at the end of the day. I respect his decision. But I’m not one of the players happy to sit on the bench.”
Murphy praised the way Watkins handled his frustrations, telling White & Jordan: “He spoke the truth in a pretty respectful way.
“He said he was fuming, which I’d hope any player would be fuming not to be playing in the biggest games of the season, especially after scoring the goals he has.
talkSPORTMurphy believes Watkins is a ‘very good’ Premier League striker[/caption] The England international is Villa’s joint leading scorer in Premier League historyGetty“He spoke to the manager about it, and it’s his decision, respect it.”
However, the former Liverpool midfielder can understand why Emery has opted for Rashford instead in recent weeks.
The loanee started once again in Villa’s defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday, with Watkins limited to a 14-minute cameo from the bench.
Murphy added: “If you look at Rashford’s capabilities, he’s got more in his locker to hurt teams, which he showed against PSG in the second half.
“He destroyed them for 20 minutes. Even last night in the first half, he had Dias on the rack. Ran him ragged.”
Asked if Watkins is a ‘top-tier’ striker, he admitted: “It depends on your interpretation of top-tier.
“He’s a very good Premier League striker. I wouldn’t say top-tier. Top-tier, is talking the likes of a (Sergio) Aguero.”
Sergio Aguero scored 184 goals in 275 Premier League appearances during his ten years with City.
He also won the Golden Boot in the 2014/15 season ahead of Harry Kane.
As for Watkins, his 16 league strikes this term are the most of any English player in the division.
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