Grealish backing £28m Ollie to get among the goals
VILLA captain Jack Grealish has revealed his admiration for £28 million club-record signing Ollie Watkins – and is backing the striker to make a big impression.
The 24-year-old, last season’s Championship player of the year, is making the step up to the top flight for the first time, but Grealish believes he’ll be in the goals.
“He has that price tag for a reason,” said Grealish. “You’ve only got to look at his stats from last season. We’ve been working with him now and I’m not even saying that just because people want to hear it. It’s genuine.
“I’ve had training sessions, finishing sessions with him and it’s no surprise to me why he ended up getting so many goals last season.”
Grealish added: “I like to have a good bond with them, the strikers who play in front of me. When I first came into the first team I had a great bond with (Christian) Benteke, we loved playing together and just bounced off each other.
“I feel like I’ve had it with a few strikers actually and I had it with Wesley. You probably wouldn’t believe it because he’s Brazilian and doesn’t speak English but, off the pitch, me and Wesley have a good relationship. “That showed when we linked up last season; the Burnley game when he got injured, I set his goal up. I’m sure I’ll have that with Ollie based on the last few days.”
Grealish revealed what head coach Dean Smith is looking for this season when discussing the signing of energetic full-back Matty Cash.
“I’ve played against Matty a few times,” he said. “When I played against him he was a winger. I know it’s only in the last year or two that he’s moved back into defence.
“He’s so athletic and that’s something we probably lacked last year, legs around the pitch. That’s what the manager’s now tried to install into us. Matty and Ollie have been brilliant in training and they’re a good crack in the changing room.”
Grealish believes Villa can aim as high as eighth in the Premier League this season if everything goes to plan. “Everyone wants to build on what we have done last season,’’ he said. “At the start of last year we were probably aiming to finish between 12th and 14th but it does not always work out as you plan.
“Hopefully we can build on that this season. With the squad we have I believe we can aim high.
“I think we have to be looking between 12th and eighth. You have to be realistic. You are not going to go from finishing 17th one season and then going to fifth or sixth the next, as nice as that would be.
“I think if we could finish anywhere between eighth and 12th that would be brilliant.”
Meanwhile, Villa’s start to the new season has been given a boost after Tyrone Mings signed a contract extension. The centre-back has extended his stay at the club until 2024.
Mings initially joined Villa on loan from Bournemouth in January 2019, helping the club to win promotion to the Premier League. The 27-year-old made 33 top-flight appearances last season, having joined in a permanent deal last summer, and his performances earned England recognition, making his competitive debut against Bulgaria in October 2019.
Villa go into the new campaign having tied down Grealish to a new contract and signed Watkins, Cash, Emiliano Martinez and Bertrand Traore as they seek to improve on last season when they finished just a point above the relegation zone.