Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins is using his time in the England camp to gather tips from prolific Tottenham striker Harry Kane.
Watkins gained his first call up for his national team last week. His form in the Premier League this term saw him included in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for the World Cup qualifiers. The Three Lions face San Marino, Albania and Poland over the next week in Group I.
After joining from Brentford last summer, Watkins has enjoyed a productive first year at Villa Park. He’s netted 12 goals in all competitions, including 10 in the league.
But he is evidently looking to build on his promising start to life in the top flight, and has sought out advice from one of the top forwards in the game.
Alongside him in the England squad is Spurs’ Kane, scorer of 231 goals in his club career and a further 32 on the international stage.
And Watkins has revealed he has been on a mission to discover how the England captain maintains such high standards.
“I spoke to him a couple of times,” Watkins said in a press conference (via Independent). “I just asked him how he trains, how he looks after himself, just to get some inside knowledge on how he works.
“He is someone I can definitely learn off on a day-to-day basis.”
Watkins plays down EUROs talk
Having worked his way into Southgate’s considerations, Watkins is now a chance to feature in this summer’s EUROs.
Should he enjoy a strong finish to the year, he could play at his first major tournament. But the 25-year-old insists that is not his focus as things stand.
“I’m not trying to think too far ahead,” he stated. “I just take each training session as it comes and focus on the next – that’s what I always got told.
“I’m going to try to enjoy this week, work hard, make a good impression and see where it goes from there. After that perform week in, week out for my club and see what happens.”
The EUROs, rescheduled from last year, are set to kick off on Friday 11th June. England’s first game will be against Croatia on Sunday 13th at Wembley. Scotland and Czech Republic make up the group.
READ MORE: Aston Villa are prepared to listen to offers for a player who has left Dean Smith unconvinced.
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