Latest news with #LeeHendrie
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle: Did you know?
Only Lee Hendrie (four) has received more red cards for Aston Villa in the Premier League than Ezri Konsa (three). Indeed, no player has received more dismissals than Konsa's three in the competition since the start of Villa are unbeaten in their last 19 home matches in the Premier League (W11 D8) which is their longest ever run on home soil in the competition.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Watkins still priceless despite selection issues
"Worth his weight in gold," was Lee Hendrie's opinion of Ollie Watkins' importance to Aston Villa after his goal at Bournemouth kept them in the race for a return to the Champions League next took a few minutes of careful guesswork and long multiplication, but I reckon that after the recent rise in the going rate, Ollie Watkins' weight in gold would be worth about £6m. So, if he scores the goals to carry Villa to a top-five finish, even gold wouldn't do his value will recall that late in the mid-season transfer window, Arsenal evidently made their own assessment of Watkins' value, reportedly offering between £45m and £60m to sign him. Villa rejected that out of hand, and there was some indignance around Villa Park that night at what was perceived as cynical behaviour, seeking to unsettle the player on the day of their Champions League game against was hard to imagine Villa agreeing to let Watkins leave. At that point, his alternate was still Jhon Duran, not quite on his way to the Middle East, and the idea of signing Marcus Rashford still felt speculative. Watkins had already seen off one challenge to his regular starting place – Duran's red card at Newcastle ended that experiment – and later would be displaced temporarily by Rashford, but whenever deployed he was demonstrably the same as ever, doggedly chasing and harrying opponents, looking for an obviously undimmed appetite for work made the controversy around his comments last month, regarding Rashford's selection ahead of him for the two games against Paris St-Germain, feel a little confected. Watkins said he had been "fuming" about not starting those games, and had told Unai Emery just that. The reaction was really a measure of how seldom players feel they can speak plainly in public without causing offence or chaos. In Watkins' position, you'd have been fuming too, and so would I. So, probably, would Emery, whose respect for Watkins' professionalism has been clear for a long time. It was just business. Watkins made his point in a grown-up way, and pressed the day will come when an offer for Watkins, who will be 30 later this year, feels right for all parties. But good strikers are hard to find, dependable ones doubly spoke of his pride at fulfilling his aim to score more Premier League goals for Villa than anyone else. Given continued form and fitness, he could put that record out of anyone else's reach for years to come, and it will be good for Villa if he to full commentary of Aston Villa v Tottenham at 19:30 BST on 16 May on BBC Radio WM 95.6FM/DAB/FreeviewTune into The West Midlands Football Phone-In from 18:00 on weeknights
