2:01 Watch the top 5 goals of West Brom’s season so far in the Sky Bet Championship.
- Championship table
- Transfer Centre
I have eulogised about him from August when I saw little glimpses in his game, and I remember thinking he was playing on a different level to most on the pitch.
He is Brazilian so you would expect the flair, tricks and flicks, but his loan spell has really helped him deal with the physical side of the game. He has slotted into Championship life and got on with things.
Don Goodman – Aleksandar Mitrovic, Fulham
Scoring 23 goals in 34 games speaks for itself. You look at West Brom and they have players chipping in from everywhere, but Fulham don’t have that.
He has scored 23 of their 52 goals, which is monumental. It shows how reliant they are on him and the massive burden on his shoulders, and that is why he is my Player of the Season.
It is almost a reluctant choice as I really do believe Kalvin Phillips has been the best player in the league. They are both important to their sides but in different ways.
But, as is tradition, strikers always get the glory. That is the way it is always been, and the way it always will be!
Andy Hinchcliffe – Ollie Watkins, Brentford
Mitrovic and Watkins have both been excellent and they are different types of striker. But Watkins is my Player of the Season because we all knew about Mitrovic.
He has taken to his change of position at Brentford so well, his finishing in the penalty box is so assured and he looks a natural goal scorer.
I know they have been working hard on him in training, and everything about his attacking play has been brilliant.
To play a full season as a lone striker is not easy, and the improvement he has shown this season makes him worthy of it.
Scott Minto – Ollie Watkins, Brentford
1:58 Watch Ollie Watkin’s top 5 goals of the season for Brentford in the Sky Bet Championship.
Watkins was an extremely talented player before this season, but in a completely different position. Once Neal Maupay left Brentford, though, he started scoring straight away.
Everyone thought he would go back out wide eventually, but he has taken his game to another level and done what a goal scorer needs to do. All his goals – except for one – have come from inside the box and he knows where he needs to be. He looks a born goal scorer.
- Championship news
For him to be playing like a seasoned striker, and leading the line in the way he has, I’ll be honest I didn’t see it coming. To score 22 league goals from almost nowhere makes him the revelation of the season for me.
He is another Brentford player who will be playing in the Premier League next season, even if they don’t go up.
David Prutton – Ollie Watkins, Brentford
Phillips has been brilliant for Leeds, Jarrod Bowen wouldn’t have been too far away if he had stayed at Hull in the Championship and Mitrovic has done what we expected. The fact we know how good he is may have counted against him a little!
Watkins, however, deserves the credit for what he has done this season in terms of switching positions – from a wide player to a striker.
He really has lit up the league and had so many excellent performances, and the type of goals he has scored have impressed me. He isn’t scoring the types of goals a winger playing as a striker would, they are proper No 9 goals.
He is Brentford’s chance of getting to the Premier League, and you imagine he will be there one way or another soon enough, anyway.
Gary Weaver – Ollie Watkins, Brentford
Kalvin Phillips has been excellent for Leeds and you almost take for granted that Mitrovic would hit the figures he has, but I’ve had to pick Watkins.
I’ve watched him since he was at Exeter – where he used to play as a striker in the youth team – and I remember [former Brentford manager] Dean Smith telling me he would play as a striker eventually.
Watkins never thought he would get that chance at Brentford as they kept signing strikers, but he has done now and he has shown what he can do. He has adapted and turned into a proper No 9. He knows where to be in the box, and he is a top lad as well.
It is always exciting to see a player really improve and fulfil their potential, and that’s what Watkins has done.
Sourse: skysports.com
