Should Harry Kane suffer an injury over the course of England's Euro 2024 campaign, Devon-born Ollie Watkins will be ready and waiting to step into fill the void in Gareth Southgate's squad.
Former Exeter City starlet Watkins, who was born in Torquay - but raised in Newton Abbot, is one of a handful of player in the Three Lions' squad to have progressed through the academy of a team in the EFL.
However, whilst Watkins' rise from the Grecians academy, to Brentford, to Aston Villa and then receiving international honours has been something of a meteoric rise, but it did take him a while to establish himself as St James Park.
Despite making his debut for Exeter on the final day of the 2013-14 season, Watkins was loaned out to Weston Super Mare in National League South during the 2014-15 campaign where he scored 10 goals in 25 appearances before returning to St James Park.
His breakthrough season came in 2015-16, with arguably the highlight of his campaign was his brace in a Devon Derby with Plymouth Argyle, which the Grecians won 2-1 on April 2, 2016.
Entering the 2016-17 season as an established first team regular, Watkins scored 16 goals in 52 appearances in all competitions, which saw Exeter reach the League Two Play-off final where they lost to Blackpool. On a personal note, Watkins was also voted as the EFL young player of the year as he earned himself a £1.8million move to Brentford.
Should Watkins appear for England in the tournament, he will become the second South Devon footballer to appear in a major tournament. Ipswich Town striker Kieffer Moore, who was also born in Torquay, featured for Wales in Euro 2020 and Qatar 2022.
Watkins has always remained very grounded and has always strived to learn and improve throughout his career. He has also remained true to his roots and he was seen watching Truro City face Torquay United in a re-arranged National League South fixture at Gloucester City's Tiger Turf Stadium, as his former Grecians' academy contemporary Connor Riley-Lowe was featuring for Truro.
Everyone who witnessed his development in grassroots football will be watching his progress with England with interest.
