Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins admits he is surprised by Diego Carlos' and Boubacar Kamara joining the club.

The two players swapped Champions League clubs to join Villa this summer.

"To attract players who had options to play in the Champions League is a big coup for the club," Watkins told the Birmingham Mail.

"There was no point in me trying to recruit players that were going to make us stand still and I didn't want to recruit players just to add to the numbers. I wanted to make players that were good enough for the XI, to make a difference

"Diego's going to be a really big man and a leader for us at the back. You can see that straight away and Kamara's going to give us style, he's going to give us a passing range that I didn't feel we had. We want to be one of those teams that tries to upset the natural dynamics of the Premier League.

"If that means we snatch a European place, fantastic, because we've got to reach for the stars. But the minimum for me is we've got to be operating in the top-half of the league."