Danny Wright

Wed 30 November 2022 21:43, UK

Aston Villa academy product Keinan Davis finally found his goalscoring boots in 2022.

Before joining Nottingham Forest on loan at the start of the year, he’d made 86 first-team appearances for the Villans while only scoring six goals.

In 22 appearances for Forest in the second half of their promotion-winning 2021/22 campaign, Davis grabbed five goals to almost match his tally for Villa before entering the summer transfer window a wanted man.

It was eventually Watford who signed the Stevenage-born centre-forward with the Championship promotion chasers landing a loan-to-buy agreement with Villa.

The Athletic reported on 16 September that Watford hold an option to buy Davis at the end of the season when his loan deal expires.

It is understood that the price of the option is between £10-15million – a lot of money for a striker now in his mid-20s who’s struggled to score for you.

Before his loan spell at Vicarage Road kicked into gear, you’d have thought there’d be little chance of Watford triggering that option-to-buy clause due to Davis’ goalscoring troubles in the past but he’s since found himself in good form again in the Championship.

In 13 appearances for the Hornets, Davis has scored four goals.

It’s not a landslide of goals, no. But it’s still an average of one goal every 213 minutes, which is an improvement on his average of a goal every 287 minutes with Forest. As per stats by FBRef, Davis’ xG per 90 minutes is also the highest of any Watford player at 0.41, meaning that his time on the pitch does see him provide plenty of industry in front of goal.

And one of those goals he scored was one that will no doubt make him a hero among Watford fans as he netted just three minutes into a derby-day win over Luton Town on 23 October.

Goals are not all Davis that offer.

Rob Edwards was the manager who signed Davis at Watford. As is the case with them, he’s been sacked already but based on what he told The Athletic in September, he wasn’t looking at Davis to solely stick the ball in the back of the net.

“He’s a really good guy,” said Edwards.

“He brings a lot of quality — he can get hold of the ball and bring others into the game but he can also turn and drive away. He’s got the quality to make a good pass, so he brings a lot with him. He brings knowhow as he was involved in a successful team last season that got promoted.”

Do the stats back that up?

According to WhoScored, Davis has played 19.8 accurate short passes per 90 minutes of game time in the Championship, which is more than what fellow forwards Ismalia Sarr and Vakoun Issouf Bayo have managed.

However, as for the quality of those passes, Davis has averaged just 0.4 key passes per 90 minutes in the league, which is the lowest of all of Watford’s forward players.

Slaven Bilic replaced Edwards in charge at Vicarage Road in late September – less than two weeks after The Athletic ran those quotes by the now-former Hornets boss.

And while it was Edwards who was bugging up the Aston Villa loanee, it’s been Bilic who’s probably got the best out of him with the striker netting three times in his first six league games in charge of the Hertfordshire club.

Bilic is no doubt happy with Davis.

He’s started each of the last six Championship games he’s been available for and the Vicarage Road club are in good form, to the point where they’re solid contenders to win promotion back to the Premier League.

Going up from the Championship is no doubt a must for Watford when it comes to signing Davis. It’s unlikely many second-tier sides will be able to splash out £10million or more on a player.

But Davis is doing everything right for the Hornets and he if keeps that up, wins a second promotion in a row, Villa could be set for a very nice wad of cash come next summer.

In other Aston Villa news, Villa News has examined an issue with offsides that Unai Emery has seemingly inherited from Steven Gerrard.