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Exclusive: Moyes wants top Villa star

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Exclusive by Hughie Southon

David Moyes has been seriously tracking Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins in his search to fill the position we need more than any other at the club.

The 26 year old has been the manager’s number one target for some time but sadly he has learned through middle men that the midlands outfit has no intention of selling the former Brentford centre forward.

The club told ClaretandHugh exclusively today that they have no interest in current Bees striker Ivan Toney but Watkins is clearly an entirely  different kettle of fish.

Watkins joined Premier League team Aston Villa on a five-year contract, for a then club-record £28 million fee, which could rise to £33 million.

Since then he has found the net nine times in 33 appearances this season and 16 in 43 last term

However, he is on a five year contract at Villa Park and we were told by a key London Stadium insider: “It’s become clear Villa are not interested in selling the player but that won’t stop us trying.”

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

0 comments

  • johnham1 says:

    Well if Moyes has seriously being tracking Watkins, he surely knows he is not a natural goal scorer. He is no upgrade on Antonio, in fact I would rate Antonio much higher.. A big fat no from JH1 I am afraid. The pressure is on Moyes to make the right signings this window and I do like his principles only sign players who will make us better, I 100% agree so Watkins will not fall into that category. However I worry about his signings of late, Vlasic has been a very expensive mistake, I assume Moyes scouted him directly himself and I just cannot figure out what he sees in him. The same applied to Kral, I have no idea what he saw in him that made him feel that he could play in the PL. He has no pace which is a prerequisite to play PL football. Zouma has been a good signing to be fair and I do hope we sign Areola over players like Pope. I really hope Moyes gets it right and signs young proven players and does not go after players like Phillips, Toney and now Watkins who really offer nothing to us.

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