Everyone loves an origin story embellished with a healthy dose of back projection. But when I first met Ollie Watkins in 2013 on a glorious summer’s day at the Cat and Fiddle training ground in Exeter, I had no inkling he would ever provide an iconic England moment.
He was 17 and it was the first day back at pre-season training. The director of football, Steve Perryman, the legendary FA Cup winner and Tottenham record appearance maker, introduced us. Watkins was a genial 17-year-old but if I’d been looking for future players likely to decide Euro 2024 semi-finals, I would have hung around Manchester City’s academy to bump into Cole Palmer or Phil Foden. Watkins was quick but teenagers often make older, out-of-condition teammates look slow on the first day back. And he trained with the first team only to make up the numbers. He knew his place.
