Unfortunately for everyone involved, the player injured himself rather quickly, and it was claimed that he wasn’t in good shape when he arrived.

The 25-year-old has yet to play for his new club, who paid €2.3m for him, and Sport Face in Italy are now referring to the former Watford loanee as a ‘mysterious object’.

He is still trying to ‘overcome a calf injury’ that he picked up soon after arriving, and there is clearly some frustration at the situation.

His situation remains a ‘real mystery’, and clearly there is a need for him to make an appearance sooner rather than later, with Udinese currently languishing in 16th in the table.

When that will happen, no one really knows, but after his seven goals and two assists in 34 games for Watford last season, there was clearly hope he would have played by now.

Bought from Aston Villa, the 25-year-old had made 86 appearances for his former club, scoring six goals and providing seven assists.

The post ‘Mysterious object’ – Confusion over Udinese signing player after he spent last season at Watford appeared first on Sport Witness.

The goalkeeper has been speaking to Kronen Zeitung about the injury, which he suffered in a training ground clash two weeks ago.

The newspaper explains that Bachmann was ‘left unconscious’ following a clash in a training session with Watford that caused players and staff to sprint onto the pitch to check on him.

Such was the clash that it sent ‘shock shot through everyone’s limbs’, with Bachmann left lying on his back in his penalty area with all four limbs stretched out.

He was ‘motionless’ according to them, leading to huge concerns before he was eventually revived and presumably checked over by the medical staff.

The belief was that the goalkeeper had suffered a concussion and that was later proven to be correct, with his wife forced to take him to hospital for scans.

“I was completely knocked out, unconscious,” he explained.

“Even by English standards, it was an unusually tough duel for a training session. Maybe I shouldn’t have left the goal like that. I didn’t know my way around anymore, I didn’t know where I was.”

Fortunately for Bachmann he’s now recovered, with the focus now on getting back into the Watford first team and continuing where he left off.

The Hornets kept him out of the clash with Rotherham before the international break, although they kept the concussion a secret and labelled his absence as merely being forced through an unnamed injury.

The Hornets now take on league leaders Leicester After the international break and Bachmann is confident of a good result, and a strong season in general.

“Now come the important games,” he added.

“That (a Play-off place) is possible in this league, a lot will happen. We grew together as a team and fought our way through the difficult times. That makes us stronger.”

The post Watford star shares extent of recent injury – Confident that Hornets are on the up appeared first on Sport Witness.

The website has a long piece recalling all the steps taken by the 20-year-old so far, and that includes the time he belonged to the Hornets.

Cukur left the Netherlands in 2020, when his contract with AZ Alkmaar came to an end. In January 2021, he signed for Watford as a free agent. In this interview, he revealed that he also had the chance to join AS Roma, but ended up choosing to move to England instead.

“I have also been in discussions with AS Roma and Hellas Verona. A lot of clubs from Italy actually, Sampdoria for example. We have also been in discussions with Eintracht Frankfurt. Internazionale even came, but they were a bit superficial. Ultimately I heard from English interest and then I chose Watford. I think everyone dreams of Premier League football,” Tiago Cukur told Voetbal Primeur.

Cukur recalled the players who helped him at Watford’s dressing room at the time, also showing some admiration for some of them.

“William Troost-Ekong and Troy Deeney were very important for me there. Those two really helped me in the dressing room as well, because it is obviously a huge step. Unfortunately, I was not able to make my debut there. I was on the bench, including games against Spurs, Everton and Leicester. I had Joao Pedro – now a Brighton player – in front of me there. That basic technique of his too, that was really serious level though.”

During his time at Watford, Cukur got loaned to Doncaster Rovers, where he stayed for six months, but in the summer of 2022, the Hornets decided to sell him to Fenerbahce for €250k in what was a bit of profit for the Hornets.

The striker still belongs to the Turkish side, where he has a contract until 2026. Still, he had two consecutive loans in Belgium, first at FCV Dender EH, and now at SK Beveren.

The post Player reveals he snubbed AS Roma and others for Watford move – Only had one dream in mind appeared first on Sport Witness.

Relayed by Udinese Blog, the outlet mentions a potential swap between João Ferreira and Matheus Martins.

It’s pointed out that the fullback, who’s loaned by Watford to Udinese this season, is an ‘interesting prospect’ having a good season and could move to the Serie A side ‘permanently’.

Going the opposite way, there could be Matheus Martins, who’s having the inverse situation, loaned by the Italians to the Hornets until the end of the season.

Udinese bought the Brazilian from Fluminense last winter and immediately sent him to Watford on loan. Since then, he has four goals and one assist in 22 appearances for the club.

Ferreira is valued by Transfermarkt at €1m, while Martins has his price at €7m. But we all know their market valuations may not mean a lot in the end, since it’s the Pozzo family who will decide whether the players deserve to be exchanged between the clubs.

After all, that’s the benefit of owning more than one club in different leagues.

The post Pozzo family eyeing to ‘permanently’ swap two players between Watford and Udinese in January appeared first on Sport Witness.

That included overseeing their relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2022 season, and then their 11th placed finish in the Championship the following campaign.

There will have been some distant hope that Watford could challenge to return to the top-tier this year, but it’s clear from their current 13th spot that this isn’t going to happen just yet, as Giaretti himself explained to TuttoMercatoWeb.

Praising Leicester and how well they have done since bringing in Enzo Maresca as their manager, the sporting director then moved onto his current club.

Asked about Watford’s goal, he said: “We have reset the project by rejuvenating the team. We are full of young people full of desire to do well. The objective is to do the best. We want at least the play-offs, we want to move up. There is an excellent spirit, great unity intent.

“We don’t have a top team, but a lot of talent and we have everything to play for the play-offs, The January transfer window? Let’s see: first, there are still about 10 games, then we’ll understand what we can aspire to.”

As previously stated, Watford currently sit 13th in the Premier League, having won five games from a possible 16, drawing six and losing the other five, all the while scoring 23 goals and conceding 18.

The post “We don’t have a top team” – Watford transfer chief says club have ‘reset the project’, asked about January window appeared first on Sport Witness.

He will be in charge for the next two games before moving on, at which point there will be a need for a new man in charge, with Watford’s Ken Sema really hoping for it to be the former Chelsea boss.

In fact, the winger has revealed to the local media, relayed by Aftonbladet, that he is trying to get in touch with Potter about it, after the two worked together at Östersund.

Speaking to the local media, he explained he had reached out to his former manager, but has yet to receive a response.

He said: “I try to do it, but he is difficult. He no longer answers when I call. I don’t know why or if it is a good sign or a bad sign. It would be incredibly fun if that were to happen. He is an incredible manager and an incredible person who I think could give a lot to Swedish football. Then, I don’t know if he is as hungry as I am or maybe we all are.”

Potter left a great impression in Sweden after his time at Östersund, which helped him land better roles in European football, including those at Brighton and eventually his most recent club.

This is why Sema believes he is the right man for the job after witnessing what he can do first hand on the training pitch.

He added: “I think it would do a lot (for the national team). Then again, I don’t know how he is as a national team manager. I have only seen him at club level and worked with him on a daily basis. I think it’s a special job to have, but I’m absolutely convinced he could do great things.”

The 30-year-old Watford player has been in and out of the first-team this season at Vicarage road, making 10 appearances in the Championship to date, picking up one goal and three assists along the way.

The post “I’m absolutely convinced” – Watford player trying to recruit manager, clearly a big fan appeared first on Sport Witness.

That’s according to TuttoMercatoWeb, who report that those in charge of the Serie A side are tempted to send Etienne Camara back to England.

The midfielder was signed from Huddersfield in the summer, but has yet to make a league appearance for his new club, which is why a move to Watford is being mulled over.

It isn’t said in which manner the deal would take place, but it’s made clear the 20-year-old could ‘leave Udinese shortly’, with the other Pozzo club a likely destination.

Once the move to Watford is complete, the Championship side ‘will decide what to do’.

That sounds more like a permanent transfer than anything else, and with a summer transfer costing Udinese just €2m, a similar fee for a move in January to Vicarage Road would be a huge surprise.

Either way, one to look out for, as we approach a time of the year when clubs look for easy and quick ways to improve their squads.

The post Pozzo family could send player to Watford just six months after Udinese arrival appeared first on Sport Witness.

The 27-year-old spent a year at Standard Liège’s academy before becoming part of Club Brugge’s youth system in 2013. He impressed for the latter and that helped him make his way into their first team a year later.

His displays for the Jupiler Pro League side convinced Watford to invest in his services in 2015.

Oularé finished his debut season with the Hornets with only three appearances as he was overlooked by their then manager, Quique Sánchez Flores.

Watford sent him out on loan to Zulte Waregem, Willem II, Royal Antwerp and Standard Liège for three years, before they sold him to the latter in 2019. The attacker has struggled with fitness and HLN points out that he has missed 701 days due to injuries.

When asked if he would have wanted to change anything from the past, he said: “I would tell my younger self to be patient. In the beginning of my career, things may have happened too quickly. It was also just difficult to stay calm. I played for the reserves of De Rode Duivels.

“I broke through at Club Brugge, the best team in Belgium. The press wrote pages full of all the clubs that were supposedly interested in me. It was about money, a lot of money. Then it’s not easy to make the right choice at that moment, at that age.”

According to HLN, the Belgian made only 13 starts for the first team before Watford paid €8m for his signature.

On his move to Watford, Oularé explained: “I should have been more patient. Stay one or two more years. But I’m not going to say that I regret my choice either. What if I had been given opportunities at Watford and had broken through in England?

“But in retrospect I would approach it differently. I would think more about the transfers I would make. About my entourage and people I surround myself with. I was young. I trusted people quickly, sometimes too quickly. Unfortunately, football is not a world in which you are allowed to do that.”

Oularé returned to Belgium when he joined second division side Lierse Kempenzonen in the last window.

The post “Should’ve been more patient” – Player suggests he moved to Watford too soon, transfer decision fueled by excitement appeared first on Sport Witness.

However, with both clubs not achieving great results in the past few years, people start wondering how good this partnership actually is.

As manager Andrea Sottil is about to be sacked by Udinese, TuttoMercatoWeb today feature a story wondering whether the recent coaches were really the club’s biggest problems.

The website points out that the Serie A side continue to sign too many players from Watford, with prices that could be considered ‘too high’.

TuttoMercatoWeb makes a full recap of those transfers, recalling the many millions that have gone to the Vicarage Road side.

It’s said that those signings ‘don’t improve’ Udinese’s squad, although they’re quite careful to avoid a claim there’s anything underhand going on.

Just this summer, the Italian side made the signings of Christian Kabasele, Maduka Okoye and Domingos Quina from Watford, besides having the return of Hassane Kamara, who’d been loaned to the English side last season.

The post Club criticised for signing too many players from Watford – Prices considered ‘too high’ appeared first on Sport Witness.

The Italian initially joined the Hornets as their scout in 2012 and was then promoted to technical director in 2014.

TuttoMercatoWeb have published a detailed interview with Giraldi, where he revealed that Watford failed to sign Kim Min-jae in the past.

The South Korea international arrived in Europe for the first time when Fenerbahçe signed him from Chinese side Beijing Guoan in 2021.

Giraldi has revealed he was offered a chance to sign the 26-year-old defender for Watford when he was at South Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. He explained this when TMW asked him about the signings he failed to undertake.

“The player we were really close to and with whom we had daily contact both with the boy and with the agents was Kim min-jae,” he said.

“We were really close to him when he was still playing in Korea: he was reported to me through the scouts and I fell in love, an incredible resilience and a high-level personality. We actually got to the signing steps, but at that moment Jeonbuk decided not to disregard an agreement they had already made with Beijing Guoan: the boy was respectful and went to China. Even when he was there, we resumed contact, but at that moment we couldn’t carry out the operation there.”

Min-jae joined Napoli in 2022 and established himself as one of the best centre-backs in Serie A last season. This saw him linked to Manchester United but he ended up moving to Bayern Munich in the last window.

Giraldi has also told TMW that Fikayo Tomori was a step away from joining Watford after his loan spell at Derby County during the 2018/19 season. Tomori, who’s currently at AC Milan, was then owned by Chelsea.

The post “We were really close to him” – Director on the player he almost signed for Watford, fell in love with him appeared first on Sport Witness.