Kelly Somers: Well, Ollie, let’s return to the very starting. I need to know the place your love of soccer got here from and the primary time you possibly can bear in mind having a ball at your ft.
Ollie Watkins: Ah, it was a very long time in the past now!
Kelly: You had been so younger which you can’t bear in mind…
Ollie: Yeah, I used to be so younger. My mum all the time used to say as quickly as I may stroll I used to be kicking bouncy balls and stuff round. Then at any time when I used to exit to play on the street, I’d all the time come again with a soccer.
Kelly: What, you simply nicked one other child’s soccer?!
Ollie: I’d simply discover footballs round and I’d have a set of various ones. I used to be enjoying with my brothers on the street and stuff like that. One day my good friend got here round and he was going to soccer follow later, however I did not have a group. He advised me to include him after which it began from there.
Kelly: So, that was your first group. What are you able to bear in mind of your first session with them?
Ollie: It was simply totally different. I used to be used to enjoying soccer down on the park with my buddies. This is a bit bit extra… it was nonetheless enjoyable, however clearly you’ve got a bit little bit of teaching and stuff like that. And then I discovered that I used to be fairly good at it, so simply stored going.
Kelly: At what level did you realise, ‘OK, I’ve perhaps bought one thing right here that the opposite children have not bought’?
Ollie: Well, to be trustworthy, there was a participant that performed in my group… his dad truly ran the group as effectively… he was the perfect participant. And I all the time simply wished to sort of get shut to him and simply be like him actually.
At that age, I do not assume you assume about it. You’re simply enjoying soccer. It’s perhaps once you get into academies and stuff like that then you definitely begin to assume about doing it extra significantly and pondering of the extent you are at. But at the moment – I feel that is the enjoyable factor about once you’re younger – you simply exit and play. There’s no guidelines. You can run in every single place. I feel that is the enjoyable bit about soccer at that age.
Kelly: There’s been rather a lot manufactured from your journey and it not being your typical route. It was Exeter that picked you up first, wasn’t it? But that wasn’t the simplest path immediately was it, both?
Ollie: No, I went for a trial once I was 9. I did not get in after which they advised me to come again in six weeks, however I could not focus. I used to be all the time wanting round and stuff like that, so coming again six weeks later, I did not really feel like I used to be going to enhance. I wanted to return and, , play with my buddies and simply take pleasure in it as a result of at that age it is vitally severe.
Kelly: So, you did not return six weeks later? You determined not to?
Ollie: No, I went again two years later. I bought within the academy after which, yeah, I used to be there till I left at 21 I feel.
Kelly: I do know it is a very long time in the past now, however at 9 years outdated that should have been your dream to play to your native group. To be advised, ‘no, sorry, this is not best for you for the time being’ … are you able to bear in mind how that felt? Or had been you in a position to simply go and revel in soccer once more?
Ollie: They weren’t saying: ‘Oh no, you are not adequate.’ It was extra the truth that I could not focus. Well, that is what they advised me anyway. But I simply sort of noticed it as… I simply went and performed extra soccer and simply loved it. And I feel I sort of noticed it as a bit little bit of a blessing. At that age, you simply need to exit and play, have that freedom to categorical your self. So, that is what I went away and did. When I then went into it, I used to be prepared to focus extra.
Kelly: And once you had been at Exeter as effectively, you went on some mortgage spells. I do know Weston-super-Mare was fairly a giant one, wasn’t it?
Ollie: Yeah, I really feel like that was essential in my improvement. One of my greatest buddies on the time, Matt Jay, he made his debut at 16 I feel. Obviously, I used to be very completely satisfied for him. He was my greatest good friend, however I used to be so envious since you need that to be you.
But me going out on mortgage undoubtedly helped me, as a result of I felt like I used to be then… I’d skilled enjoying males’s soccer. I simply discovered to struggle for 3 factors. People had mortgages to pay and stuff like that and I did not perceive that as a result of I’d simply been enjoying reserve-team soccer and enjoying video games the place I may win 5-0 or lose 5-0, it did not matter. Going out and enjoying for 3 factors was an actual studying curve for me and it undoubtedly helped me. I discovered rather a lot that 12 months.
Kelly: You did, in fact, make it at Exeter after which the remainder is historical past as a result of that is the place the remainder of your journey began. But has there been a turning level alongside the way in which, the place for those who look again, you assume, ‘OK, all of this… I would not be an England worldwide scoring that aim at Euro 2024, enjoying within the Champions League… none of this could have occurred with out it’?
Ollie: I feel there’s a component of luck. I bear in mind the day I bought into the primary group at Exeter. Ryan Harley – one of many important midfielders – was ailing that day. I ended up enjoying, scoring after which I stayed within the group and did effectively.
But after that, I feel simply working onerous. And once I made the leap to Brentford, I used to be a bit bit stunned at how effectively I took to it.
Kelly: Really?
Ollie: Yeah, I feel as a result of once you’re youthful, you take a look at gamers that you really want to play in opposition to… you search them on YouTube after which the subsequent factor , soccer adjustments so shortly, you may be enjoying with these gamers that you simply had as soon as watched or aspired to be like. I feel simply working onerous and timing – all the pieces simply sort of falls into place naturally, I feel.
Kelly: Is it fairly onerous to consider in that at instances, although, since you sort of… you possibly can management a lot, however you possibly can’t management your luck? Or are you able to, do you assume?
Ollie: Yeah, I feel it is nonetheless one thing I’m coming to phrases with. You can do all you possibly can all through the week and put together as greatest as you possibly can for a recreation, however generally issues are out of your management. There are instances the place, , it is lonely. You cannot take your mates in every single place with you and your loved ones and the individuals closest to you.
You’ve bought to work onerous and do it your self and persevere on the finish of the day, and for those who hold working onerous it can repay.
Kelly: What’s been the hardest second?
Ollie: The hardest second for me has most likely been… all through all my profession… I’d most likely say this season. Just as a result of I’ve carried out so effectively to get to the place I’m – getting to the Premier League… we had a little bit of a dip… I scored objectives. And then you definitely set that expectation of… I feel I hit a brand new stage, scoring objectives and being in Europe as effectively. That aim… after the Euros, I feel there’s extra eyes on you then.
This 12 months, I have not been on the stage I wished to. So, to study to cope with that’s onerous. And, look, it may well all the time change. Football can all the time change. It will probably be a recreation the place you possibly can exit, rating three objectives after which everybody talks about you, like: ‘Ah, he’s again in kind.’
I feel that change of not being on the stage the place you need to be… I feel for me this 12 months has been troublesome. But I’ve all the time bought religion in my skill and I work so onerous that I do know I can get again to the extent that I’ve achieved in earlier seasons.
