Watkins was close to joining the Rams
Brentford striker Ollie Watkins puts pressure on Krystian Bielik in Derby County’s trip to Griffin Park earlier this season.
DERBY County face another tough test this weekend as they take on Brentford at Pride Park Stadium.
The Bees have won six games on the trot to keep their hopes of automatic promotion to the Premier League alive.
Thomas Frank’s men are third with four games to go – five points behind West Bromwich Albion and six adrift of leaders Leeds United.
They may have to settle for the play-offs in the end but have certainly given the top two a run for their money.
Much has been made of Brentford’s “BMW” attacking trio of Said Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins.
Watkins has scored 23 goals this season, including two in a 3-0 win
MILLWALL are yet to decide whether to take up an option to sign Derby County forward Mason Bennett on a permanent basis, says manager Gary Rowett.
Bennett is currently on loan with the Lions on a deal that runs until the end of the season.
Millwall have an option to make the deal permanent, though the 23-year-old’s future appears to remain unclear.
Bennett has made six appearances for the South London club, including four starts. over Derby at Griffin Park at the end of August.
But if things had gone differently, the 24-year-old could have been playing for the Rams.
Derby were heavily linked with a move for the forward when he was with Exeter City - but he signed for Brentford for a reported fee of £1.8m in the summer of 2017.
Speaking after the against the Rams earlier this season, Watkins said he almost ended up at Pride Park during the 2017 January transfer window, when Steve McClaren was in his second spell as manager.
Asked how close he came to joining the club, he said: “Yeah, game
He scored his first goal for them in a 1-1 draw with Swansea City at the end of June – but a hip injury has kept him out of the past couple of matches
“It’s a difficult one with Mase,” former Rams boss Rowett told London News Online.
“He’s the sort of player you’d love to keep.
“He has shown in the few games he has played that he has got something different to what we’ve already got.
“Certainly what Mason has shown really close – in the January transfer window.
“Steve McClaren wanted to sign me and I wanted to go there at the time. Then it kind of fell through – so it could have been a lot different! “I could have been a Derby player but I stayed at Exeter and things worked out for the better here at Brentford.
“It was just down to money, I think. Exeter wanted a little bit more money at the time and a loan back, because we were doing well and ended up getting to the (League Two) play-off final that year.
“It didn’t work out, unfortunately, but I’m glad I came to Brentford.”
I could have been a Derby player but I stayed at Exeter and things worked out for the better here.
Ollie Watkins is that that we lack that type of player at times in the team – just that pace and power.
“You’ve seen in the last couple of games that we’ve needed one or two more options on the pitch.
“It’s difficult because I hoped he would come in and play 15 games and we’d have a big set of matches to be able to choose whether to take up the option.
“We’ll have to sit down and decide what we do and how we do it.
“There will probably have to be discussion between the clubs first.”