Ollie Watkins was the name which lingered near the top of Victor Orta’s wishlist for a little while across last season and into the transfer window once Brentford failed at Wembley.
The Bees’ striker’s goals were obviously impossible to ignore and at 24 he fitted right in with the planned approach of taking the cream of the Championship crop upon promotion.
Naturally, Orta and Leeds United expected the price would be high. Young, English and a whisker away from the second tier’s golden boot. Demand for Watkins would be intense, but he ticked a lot of boxes for Marcelo Bielsa.
There was a crucial change in circumstances, Orta and his recruitment team could not ignore, though. Spain’s number nine was coming onto the market.
Rodrigo was not someone United had even considered. A striker of his international standing with some of Europe’s top-tier clubs after him was not given a second thought until Valencia opened the door.
Rodrigo will even end up being a touch cheaper than Watkins was for Aston Villa, but he’s the ready-made, hit-the-ground-running article at 29, though untested on these shores.
Despite Rodrigo’s reputation there was a debate to be had about the merits of going with the younger striker, more recently tested in English football and with a better re-sale value.
Rodrigo’s goal record in Spain was also fairly modest, especially compared with the very recent exploits of Watkins, who we had seen first hand in the Championship.
However, already, just eight games into the campaign, we are starting to see why Orta and United have been proven so right in going for the Spaniard over Watkins.
Until he was forced into isolation by coronavirus, we were watching Rodrigo improve week by week under Marcelo Bielsa into one of the team’s key men.
His intelligence on the pitch has stood out. He knows where to be and when at all times, making the right decision more often than not both with and without the ball.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, we are seeing a burgeoning relationship with striker Patrick Bamford too, despite the fact we came into this season with them billed as rivals for one berth.
Now, none of this is to say Watkins would not have improved week by week under Bielsa, but the major success in overlooking him for Rodrigo has been the latter’s versatility.
In all honesty, if Bamford had started with seven goals in eight games after a Watkins transfer, would the new man have even played much now?
No, he would be on the bench waiting for his chance, just as Eddie Nketiah did for so long last season. That would be more than £30m worth of striker doing little to sway his team’s results.
Watkins does not have it in his locker to play the role Rodrigo has been parachuted into with such success. Brentford turned him into the EFL’s best poacher, not a central midfielder making tackles in his own centre circle.
In pursuing Rodrigo over Watkins, Orta has snared a more experienced, versatile target able to deliver an immediate return on his investment.
While Rodrigo has played well enough to even trigger a column like this in the first place by turning his hand to something we did not expect, Watkins would have been looking for the odd chance in the final 20 minutes of matches and praying his absence didn’t trigger endless post-match inquests from journalists badgering Bielsa.
As with all debates in football, time will provide the answer, but at this early point few will be sat wishing United had gone for Watkins over Rodrigo.
