WATFORD are to commence negotiations for a new contract with striker Tommy Smith.

Chief executive Tim Shaw will be having talks with the player and his representatives in the immediate future in an attempt to improve the Hemel Hempstead-born player's terms and extend his current contract, which runs to 2003.

Vialli has been delighted with the 21-year-old striker's progress.

"He is still very young and not the finished product yet but he is very keen on learning and listening and I think it will take time before he is a real superstar. But he has a lot of potential and, as long as he keeps progressing, he will become a very important striker.

"He is already a very important striker for us but I am thinking about something bigger."

Asked to enlarge on the point, Vialli said: "One day I think it is fair to say, Smudger might be too good for our club. Yes, we want to go into the Premiership. We want to be what Charlton or Ipswich are in the Premiership but we hope that Smudger is going to be good like Michael Owen or other top players.

I want him to stay with us for as long as possible but I also wish him to become a superstar and unfortunately there are clubs bigger than Watford.

"It would be a bit selfish, if he keeps progressing and becomes a top class striker, to keep him at our club for too long, beyond the next few years. Then we have to find another Tommy Smith," he said, pointing out the financial advantages to the player if he then moved and also to the club, by virtue of the fee.

"However, there are so many things he has to work on and he knows that. To be fair to him, he is trying to work on his weaknesses so as to become a top-class striker," the manager added.

November 2, 2001 9:24

Oliver Phillips