Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins bizarrely names ex- Chelsea defender as the most underrated player he’s faced
Ollie Watkins has strangely named a former Chelsea legend as the most ‘underrated’ player he has faced. The 28-year-old has enjoyed a ten-year professional career playing across English football and has faced some of the best the Premier League has ever seen. During his four years at current club Aston Villa, the striker has come up against elite defenders such as Virgil van Dijk, John Stones and William Saliba.
But he has revealed which of his opponents he believes is the most underrated, and he picked a Chelsea great. Speaking on latest episode of Lions Den on the England YouTube channel, he said “Thiago Silva. Even though he’s obviously a big name. But seriously, he’s nearly 40 and I couldn’t get past him, he knew every move I was going to do.”
England teammate Dean Henderson also appeared on the episode and made another strange pick when asked for someone who is ‘underrated.’ “Firmino at Liverpool, I don’t think he got enough credit for what he was. I thought the way that he picked a pass, and the weight of his passes was fantastic,” Henderson added.
Thiago Silva is regarded by some as one of the best defenders of this generation, having played at top European clubs such as AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain. Silva also made 113 appearances for Chelsea, where he played for four seasons, helping lead them to glory in the 2021 Champions League final. Meanwhile Roberto Firmino is a club legend at Liverpool, having been a central part of the side that brought both the Premier League and the Champions League back to Anfield under Jurgen Klopp.
The Brazilian forward made 256 appearances for the Merseyside club, scoring 86 goals in this time. With both Watkins and Henderson naming proven highly rated Premier League players with over 100 appearances, host Josh Denzel pressed them to name a younger player that they think would better suit the label of underrated. “Max Kilman, very good defender who plays for Wolves, I think he’s a top player,” responded Watkins.
Whereas Henderson chose to name a former Manchester United teammate, saying: “Look out for Amad Diallo, obviously he’s broke onto the scene this season but he’s going to be top top.”
Kilman, 27, joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2018 and has made 127 appearances for the midlands club. Whereas 21-year-old Diallo enjoyed a breakout season in 2023/24 for Manchester United, making 12 appearances for the club including in the FA Cup quarter-final where he scored an injury time brace to knockout rivals Liverpool.
