Aston Villa face "genuine" competition from Tottenham Hotspur in the race to sign Brentford forward Ollie Watkins, according to journalist Alan Nixon.

Watkins is a player in serious demand after a stellar individual campaign for Brentford, in a campaign where he was crowned as the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Season.

The 24-year-old scored 26 goals for Brentford across all competitions last season, and following the Bees' failure to win promotion to the Premier League, his future now looks uncertain.

Quiz: Do you remember which club Brentford signed these 15 players from?

Brentford are seemingly preparing for life without Watkins, having already completed the signing of Ivan Toney from Peterborough United.

Aston Villa have been linked with Watkins as Dean Smith plots a potential reunion with the attacker, but they will now face competition from Spurs.

Jose Mourinho's side are now said to be keen on the prolific front-man, as they look to bolster their attacking options and provide competition for Harry Kane.

It remains to be seen who offers the most for Watkins, and who wins in the race to land the Championship's joint-leading goalscorer last term.

The Verdict

I'm not sure whether Watkins would be a good signing for Spurs or not.

At Villa, Watkins is likely to be the main man and earn plenty of regular game time, but at Tottenham, he's surely only likely to be back-up to Harry Kane.

He wouldn't play too often for Spurs, so why make the move somewhere where game time isn't guaranteed?

Smith has got the best out of him in the past, and he will have trust in the striker.