Tottenham Hotspur recently saw legendary manager and scout David Pleat depart the club following more than two decades of service in North London.
Pleat became part of Spurs’ scouting team back in 2010 having also had spells as manager, caretaker manager and director of football.
He has been attributed to the signings of players like Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen and Ben Davies whilst at Tottenham.
Back in July, the North London club announced that Pleat would be stepping back from his duties as a scout and thanked him for ‘his contribution over so many years and in so many ways’.
Now, the 79-year-old has been speaking about one hugely successful Premier League striker he wanted to sign during his time in N17.
David Pleat wanted Tottenham to sign Ollie Watkins
Pleat has revealed that he wanted Tottenham to sign Ollie Watkins when he was at Exeter City in League Two.
Pleat claimed that when he was looking at the 28-year-old he was playing as a midfielder and explained his development from the centre of the park to striker.
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.
“He did play up front in a play-off final at Wembley where he didn’t play particularly well. When he 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 £28 million Villa got a very good centre-forward.”
Watkins rise from League Two to Euro 2024 star
At Tottenham, Pleat always showed he had an incredible eye for promising talents in the Football League and Watkins would, of course, been another great find.
Watkins came through the youth ranks at Exeter. During the 2016/17 League Two campaign, he produced an impressive 13 goals, and 10 assists and was named EFL Young Player of the Season, which saw him signed by Brentford in the Championship.
At Brentford, he established himself as one of the Championship’s most dangerous attackers and after netting 25 league goals, Aston Villa brought him to the top flight.
Last season, he fired Villa back into the Champions League for the first time since 1983 with 19 goals in the Premier League and earned himself a place in England’s Euro 2024 squad.
In the semi-final, Watkins was the hero as he came on to replace Harry Kane and score the winning goal against the Netherlands.
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