NEWS NOW: A plane crash involving Exeter City football players and staff members, two crew members, and eight journalists has claimed 41 lives.

Ollie Watkins is one of the best strikers in England

Watkins has now evolved into one of the best strikers in the Premier League and an England international, with his goals being a crucial reason why Aston Villa pipped Spurs to Champions League qualification last season.

However, history could have been a lot different had Pleat had his way, with the 79-year-old revealing that he wanted Tottenham to snap up the player back when he was at Exeter City.

Pleat, who was working as a consultant and a scout for Spurs at the time, revealed that Watkins was more of a box-to-box midfielder during his time in the South West, but insisted that his talent was apparent even then

David Pleat wanted Ollie Watkins at Spurs

He told talkSPORT: “I was interested in Ollie Watkins when he was at Exeter. Much before [he was a striker], when he was a box-to-box player, with excellent management of Paul Tisdale and Steve Perryman. That’s when I really wanted him to come to Spurs. He wasn’t a centre forward then.”

In the summer of 2017, Watkins was snapped up by Brentford, who were then in the Championship at the time, and their manager Dean Smith, subsequently took the forward to Villa after he took over at Villa Park.

Pleat continued: “When he (Watkins) went to Brentford he didn’t play up front at all. He was wide left, or in midfield with lots of energy but he never showed that ability to play as a striker.

“But Dean Smith anyway took the chance, Smith knew him well, and obviously for £28m Villa got a very good centre-forward.”

Tottenham have made some big errors in the transfer window over the last decade but I would not classify missing out on Watkins as one of those.

We had Kane leading the line at the time and if Watkins had come to Spurs to play second fiddle to the England captain, there is no guarantee that he would have developed in the manner that he has.