West Brom linked with in-demand Brentford striker Ollie Watkins

It is likely that Watkins will leave Brentford before football resumes with a host of Premier League clubs interested in the striker.

By Harry Tizard6 August 2020 11:29 BST

Ollie Watkins #11 of Brentford celebrates after he scores the opening goal during the Sky Bet Championship Play Off Semi-final 2nd Leg match between Brentford and Swansea City at Griffin Park on July 29, 2020 in Brentford, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Newly promoted West Bromwich Albion have been linked with Brentford striker Ollie Watkins.

The 24-year-old has endured a successful season, scoring 25 goals in 46 games, and is now available at a cut-price.

According to the BBC, the Bees' failure to gain promotion to the Premier League has activated an £18m release clause in the attacker's contract.

However, the Baggies' will not be alone in their pursuit of the forward, with Crystal Palace and Aston Villa also interested in his signature.

West Brom need a striker

If West Brom are going to avoid immediate relegation to the Championship, Slaven Bilic must use part of his transfer budget to invest into a new number nine.

Despite finishing second in the second tier, with only Brentford scoring more than their 77 goals this season, the Baggies' lack a consistent scorer.

Charlie Austin, who signed from Southampton last summer, found the net more than any other in the Albion' ranks, but his 11 goals ranked him in 25th place in the Championship scoring charts.

Strikers Hal Robson-Kanu and Kenneth Zohore also pitched in with 15 goals between them, but none of the three were trusted to lead the line on a regular basis, with all of them failing to gain more than 25 starts across the entire season.

An all-round forward

Along with his goal-scoring prowess, his versatility both in an ability sense, but also a positional sense would see him slot in perfectly in West Brom's attacking arsenal.

As an out-and-out striker, Watkins offers much more than the Baggies' current options. Charlie Austin, Robson-Kanu and Zohore all offer a poachers instinct inside the box, but very little outside of that.

The former Exeter City man is a more mobile option than the other three, adding more pace to the attack, as well as completing more key passes, taking more shots, being fouled more often, assisted more goals, and attempting more dribbles than both Austin and Zohore, with his total equal to Kanu.

Despite his stature, being under six foot, the Englishman is also a presence in the air. In the 2019/20 season, Watkins scored eight headed goals, and won an average 2.3 aerial duels.

The Devon-born man can also boast that he can play either side of the striker, meaning that he can fill in on the wing if Bilic prefers one of the other three to lead the line.

Brentford set to lose key players

The Bees' loss in the playoff final is expected to trigger a mass exodus once again.

As well as Watkins, it is also likely that Said Benrahma will leave the club, with his 17 goals and nine assists alerting many Premier League clubs.

The season prior to the 2019/20 campaign, when Brentford finished 11th, the London based side lost striker Neal Maupay to Brighton, as well as Ezri Konsa to Aston Villa, and Romaine Sawyers to West Brom.

Well researched transfers such as Bryan Mbeumo, Pontus Jansson, Mathias Jensen, Christian Norgaard, David Raya and Nathan Pinnock pushed them from mid-table mediocrity to one point off automatic promotion, but to do that for a second season in a row will be a real challenge - especially if their two top scorers leave the club for top division football.