England heroics may stir up Derby County transfer regret: View | OneFootball

The latest Three Lions hero could've moved to Pride Park earlier on in his career

Highlights

Ollie Watkins has become the latest of a long list of England heroes.

The Aston Villa ace was the man to break down yet another barrier for Gareth Southgate's Three Lions as they reached the final of a major tournament overseas for the very first time.

After being played in by Cole Palmer as the clock struck 90 minutes, the 28-year-old arrowed a shot through the legs of Stefan De Vrij and past Bart Verbruggen into the bottom left-hand corner of the net, sparking scenes of pandemonium in Dortmund and across the nation.

Club allegiances are put to one side when it comes to backing England in major championships, but the forward's strike last night may still give Derby County supporters a tinge of "what-if?".

Ollie Watkins nearly became a Derby County player

That's because Watkins previously admitted how close he was to a potential move to Pride Park in 2017 from Exeter City, before moving to then fellow Championship side, Brentford.

Watkins earned a reputation as a highly-rated prospect at St James' Park after making his first-team breakthrough in 2015, scoring 26 times in 78 appearances across all competitions for the Grecians.

Just months before his final game in Exeter colours - a 2-1 defeat to Blackpool in the League Two play-off final back in May 2017 - then Rams boss Steve McClaren made an attempt to pursue the then 21-year-old, before he moved to Griffin Park for just £1.8m in the summer window.

"Steve McClaren wanted to sign me, and I wanted to go there at the time," Watkins admitted to the Derbyshire Telegraph after a clash between the two clubs in 2019. "Then it kind of fell through - so it could have been a lot different!"

"I could have been a Derby player but I stayed at Exeter and things worked out for the better here at Brentford," he added.

"It was just down to money, I think. Exeter wanted a little bit more money at the time, and a loan back, because we were doing well and ended up getting to the play-off final that year."

Derby County will regret failing in Ollie Watkins pursuit

What perhaps frustrates Rams fans even further with the benefit of hindsight is that Watkins wasn't pursued, with the club then opting to acquire veteran forward David Nugent for a £2.5m fee from Middlesbrough in the same window.

Nugent was a steady performer for the Rams and added even further experience to a side constantly on the periphery of achieving promotion to the Premier League without being successful during this time frame, as the former Leicester man scored 17 times in 95 appearances across a two-and-a-half year stint, which ended in a play-off defeat to Watkins' eventual employers, Aston Villa.

The striker built up his pedigree even further alongside the likes of Neal Maupay and Said Benrahma under Dean Smith and Thomas Frank, which resulted in the Bees making a substantial profit on his £28m move to Villa Park in 2020, and since then, the Torquay-born man hasn't looked back.

The striker played a monumental part in the West Midlands' side reaching firstly the UEFA Conference League and their run to the competition's semi-finals under Unai Emery, as well as becoming the highest-scoring Englishman in the Premier League last season, as Villa ended their 41-year exile from Europe's elite domestic competition.

Furthermore, the striker can now add himself to the long list of players such as Paul Gascoigne, Harry Kane, Sir Geoff Hurst, Gary Lineker and former Villa midfielder David Platt, who have all netted iconic strikes at either the World Cup or European Championships for England.

The Rams have also enjoyed success of their own after winning promotion back to the Championship from League One this summer, but their failed pursuit of the nation's latest favourite son was one of many sliding-doors moments under the controversial tenure of Mel Morris.