Keinan Davis laughs when asked if his name should be in the frame for England recognition.

“I think you’re being a bit outlandish,” he chuckles.

The question was perhaps worthier of more than short shrift.

Davis’ attacking numbers for Italian Serie A club Udinese this season demand as much, particularly when they are compared with those of others who were named by Thomas Tuchel in a 35-man squad for this week’s friendlies against Uruguay and Japan. That group includes three strikers, with Davis’ 2025-26 stats bettering those of one, Tottenham’s Dominic Solanke, and matching another, Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Leeds.

Eight months after our first sit-down at Udinese’s pre-season training camp in Austria, The Athletic is speaking to Davis again.

Back in the summer, the now 28-year-old forward had reflected on his years at boyhood club Aston Villa and his wish for the 2025-26 campaign was simple: being — and staying — fit. Now, the topic of discussion is testament to just how well he has done in what is his third season in Serie A.

“I saw a couple of things on social media about me and England,” Davis says. “It’s nice to see people say that about you, because you would never have thought your name would be in any discussions, but I think the focus is on (players in) the Premier League.”

Despite Davis’ modesty, this season has been a personally meaningful one.

He has fulfilled that desire to be consistently available, and acquired a degree of maturity to match his imposing 6ft 3in (190cm) frame. The results have been emphatic.

He has been not just fit but also firing, scoring 10 goals and notching three assists in Serie A. His haul of three goals in Udinese’s four matches in March has seen him nominated for the league’s player of the month award.

Pleasingly, Davis has registered 28 appearances across all competitions, including 25 starts, having played in a combined 33 matches across his first two years at the club. Fitness has been the cornerstone of a campaign where the former England Under-20 international and those in the Udinese changing room believe he is entering his peak years.

The Athletic asks Davis’ team-mate, Jordan Zemura, for his assessment.

“How would I describe the ‘Bomber’, as we call him here?” Zemura responds via message. “Only as a monster on the pitch. His mentality is top. He has to be the second most in-form English striker, no? Behind (Bayern Munich’s Harry) Kane. He has been lighting it up.

“Honestly, (he’s) our player of the season and is very important for us. I knew from day one, we just needed to keep him fit. I’ve seen him bully every defender in this league. He’s so strong.”

Davis smiles when Zemura’s words are relayed back. He has earned the affection of his team-mates, which is not always easy when a player has been so beset by injuries and spent long periods out, unable to contribute.

“If you’re a striker and scoring (in Italy), they’ll say ‘Bomber’. Everyone around the training ground will say in the morning, ‘Hi, Bomber’. It feels great,” he says. “When I first went to Villa, I was playing in the youth team and I scored a couple of goals. Sean Verity, the under-16s coach, called me ‘Goals’ — I remember how good I felt.”

Keinan Davis has 10 league goals for Udinese this season (Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)

Naturally, availability helps build confidence. Being given a nickname as kind as ‘Bomber’ is welcome positive reinforcement, yet actions, alongside words, are what emboldened Davis. 

“We had five strikers: me, (Vakoun) Bayo, Adam Buksa, Iker Bravo, and Idrissa Gueye,” Davis recalls. “Then, at the beginning of the season, during a meeting, the head coach (Kosta Runjaic) said, ‘Keinan is my number-one striker’. It was in front of everyone. I was like, ‘F***ing hell!’.

“When I was younger, I’d be scared not to flex, but when he said that, I felt, ‘Yeah, I am the number-one striker’. Some of the players were taking the p**s, but I knew I had to prove him right, and even prove myself right. So the precedent was set and I had to grab the opportunity.”

As an explosive No 9, years of the repeatable nature of muscle injuries had taken a toll on Davis more than most. Those issues assailed him to the point he was concerned that if he sprinted too quickly or too often, he would break down again. It reached a stage where he was in danger of risking, or losing, that sharpness for good.

Davis knew pre-season 2025 was a defining juncture in his career and needed to find an answer to those troubles.

“I was injured all the time in my first two seasons here,” he says. “Far too much. So last summer, I went to Ibiza with one of the trainers, Jordi (Garcia), and all we did was leg work: running and leg strength.

“I haven’t done any upper body the whole season. That’s one thing I’ve cut out. When I did upper body, I tended to get quite big very quickly, so that might have put extra weight on my legs, which they couldn’t handle. So I haven’t touched any weights.

“My genetics are that I’m strong anyway. I just required the basics — squats, lunges, basic leg work — to build the foundation.”

Keinan Davis’ pre-season work in Ibiza has paid off (Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)

Four days before our conversation, Davis scored away to Genoa in Udinese’s final game before the international break, doubling their lead deep in second-half stoppage time of a 2-0 win. The goal itself was a crystallisation of how he regards himself as a striker: hovering on the shoulder of the last defender before deploying his power to drive onto a through ball.

From a personal standpoint, though, the timing of the goal elicited more pride. Coming so late on in the match spoke of his newfound robustness.

“My game is (that) I’m a sprinter,” explains Davis, who had loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Watford before leaving Villa permanently. “I’m not a long-distance runner. I’m explosive. The goal was literally that. It was a split-second where the ball went over the defender and I had to go.

“When you get muscle injuries, you get scared. There’s been lots of times I’ve come back and been scared to sprint and do certain movements, but now I’ve played 90 minutes after 90 minutes, that confidence is there, you know? Previously, I’d be off by the hour mark, gassed out, or unable to repeat sprints. So for the goal to be in the last minute and for me still be physically present is something I’m proud of myself for.”

Davis is better attuned now to what his body needs. He can tell club staff when he needs a day off training to rest or to reduce his intensity in certain sessions, peaking for matchday.

“Every minute, the sports science team have got the iPad out, seeing what physical zone I’m in,” he adds. “I train hard, but I’ll pick days where I don’t need to go as hard, because we might be doing set pieces or possession. I keep it cool — ticking over.”

Davis cannot decide on his favourite goal this season, so he picks three. One for the gravitas, the second for its technical excellence, and the third for its importance.

“My first goal at San Siro,” he smiles. “It was a penalty, but it was at San Siro (in a 2-1 win against Inter in August). The second was in Verona, because that was the best game I played this year (a 3-1 away victory in January). I felt like an animal — they couldn’t do anything with me. The velocity of the goal, near post and towards the roof of the net mirrored how I played; it was ferocious.

“My other favourite was against Lazio. It was in the last minute (to snatch a 1-1 draw at home just after Christmas). Scoring showed the responsibility the manager gave me and that I wanted at the start of the season. I was willing to stand up in the big moments.”

Davis has been ably assisted by the creative force of Nicolo Zaniolo, who also had a spell with Villa on loan in the 2023-24 season.

The 26-year-old Italian can be divisive and rather eccentric, but he is pushing for an international recall. A video of the pair doing rapper Tony Yayo and wrestler John Cena’s ‘You can’t see me’ celebration gesture did the social media rounds after Davis scored against Atalanta three weeks ago.

“Nico is a top guy,” Davis says. “I’m more of a runner in behind, but he can hold it up and attracts a lot of players to him.

“Everywhere he goes, he gets booed. It is like when (Jack) Grealish was playing for Villa — wherever we went, he’d get booed, only because he’s a big player.”

Aside from injury prevention work, there is no single great cause behind this transformation for Davis. A higher level of inner confidence has allowed his game to flourish.

“I think it’s believing in myself,” he admits. “Before I came here (for an initial £2million late in the summer 2023 transfer window), I didn’t believe I was among the top players at Villa, or I was actually as good as them. Belief is the most important thing.

“I’ve seen young players, like Alejandro Garnacho, who is someone I always think of. When he came through at Manchester United, he acted as if he ran the team. I applauded his mentality because I was not that at all. I was just like, ‘If I get an opportunity, I’ll be happy with it. I’m around the Villa squad, I can’t believe I’m here’. I just took what I was given.”

Davis can reflect on the turbulence his injuries caused. Having turned 28 last month and approaching his prime, he feels those problems are behind him, a sense backed up by the fact he has started 80 per cent of Udinese’s 30 league matches this season.

“I feel strong; I feel I can compete and battle up against anyone in this league,” he says. “It’s a great feeling for an athlete, believing you’re at your physical best. Actually, there’s no better feeling.”

Davis has a year left on his contract, with conversations over an extension yet to take place. He might have dampened talk of being in England contention, but hitting double figures for goals in a Serie A season merits a particular amount of attention, possibly with even more cachet.

An English striker performing in the rich tapestry of Italian football, where defensive solidity means goals can come at a premium, is significant.

If Davis continues in the same manner, an England call-up may not seem quite so outlandish.