How did the transfer window look for Watford?

That’s right all you younger readers, who have only ever known the hype in January and August as clubs frantically try to get their business done while supporters of clubs repeatedly refresh their social media feeds to see what’s happened.

It used to be that you didn’t have to stop buying and selling players at the end of August, and then wait until New Year’s Day for another four weeks of mayhem.

Of course, there are very good reasons why the window was introduced – previously clubs could sign players at any time they liked right up until the closing weeks of the season. If you thought there was uncertainty and a lack of stability in August, imagine that carrying on for the rest of the season.

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At any point a club could come knocking to take your star player and, unless you are one of the very few clubs who can more readily hold onto their assets, that’s not a great shadow to work under.

Of course, there are also arguments that legitimately say having only two windows places undue stress on clubs, and players, to try and do all their business in a truncated period of time which often leads to panic, desperation and disappointment.

Reflecting on the most recent window, one has to wonder if Nottingham Forest would have signed 20+ players by September 2 if they had longer to judge how performances unfolded in September and beyond.

To my mind, the only real winners are Sky Sports – they have their ‘transfer window’ clock ticking down for months, then weeks, then days, then hours, and finally minutes. As I was blogging on Thursday night, I actually made a point of seeing what they did when it got to zero – the clock just disappeared and the words ‘window closed’ appeared. Probably I’m a mug for expecting something a bit more dramatic.

However, Sky certainly did attempt to make huge drama (as always) out of something which is generally a bit of a let-down as far as live TV theatre goes. They spent the last hour or so with five people sat round a semi-circular table talking about football generally, while reminding us about the clock and how the window was about to ‘slam shut’.

One thing I did enjoy was their regular headlines that ‘So many deals have been done today’ and ‘Loads of transfer business in this 24 hours’. Isn’t that to be expected?! Surely real news would be ‘Football ignores deadline day and not a single deal is done’.

Or maybe Sky News are going to pick up the baton and announce ‘Several brightly-coloured explosions seen in the sky across the UK’ on November 5 and ‘Reports are coming in of gifts being exchanged across the globe’ on December 25.

I know Rob Edwards is glad the window has ‘slammed shut’. Imagine trying to drive a car for a month while every day there are rumours someone is going to take away a couple of gears and your brake pedal.

It can’t be easy, either, to do your job while regularly being asked about stories connecting your players with somebody else. At every press conference from pre-season until last week, both at the training ground and after games, Edwards was always – without fail – asked about initially Sarr, Pedro and Dennis, and latterly Sarr and Pedro.

Two out of three ain't bad: Watford lost Dennis but kept Pedro and Sarr

It became metronomic in the end. Different journalists asked the same question in what they thought was an original way, but it never was. And so often the questions were based around reports on social media, that Sky then gave credence to.

My main annoyance with the constant barrage of ‘set to move’ and ‘medical in the morning’ stories was not that they appeared, but that when they turn out to be inaccurate, the same sources then ran stories which suggested both Sarr and Pedro had made requests that caused them to collapse, and/or they were ‘demanding’ to leave Watford.

On the first matter, even with the role agents play, I am satisfied from checking with people at Watford and elsewhere that neither player made any demands that undermined any potential transfer.

Indeed, I wrote a piece about the Aston Villa move for Sarr and that the player had not caused the deal to fall through at the last minute, which then reached media colleagues in the Midlands who put that assertion to Villa manager Steven Gerrard in a press conference.

He said the club had decided to go in “a different direction” and made no mention of any player demands. I was pleased for Sarr – he did nothing to deserve areas of the media trying to blame him for a change of mind at Villa’s end.

I don’t know either Sarr or Pedro very well except for the occasional hello at the training ground and an ‘I recognise your face’ nod at games.

But I do know people who have worked at the club for many years, both on the football and the administration side of things. They have all said that neither Sarr or Pedro ever agitated to move away. They didn’t down tools, refuse to train or play and they were professional and mature throughout.

Edwards said similar in a couple of press conferences just as the window was closing, and a couple of players I spoke to off the record also confirmed that both forwards – who are in their early 20’s let’s remember – were ‘good as gold’, as one said.

It’s a shame the media seem happy to hang players out to dry, particularly young players in this instance, when it’s actually the case that the clubs involved changed their mind and/or didn’t make an offer that matched Watford’s valuation.

The fact Watford started the window with three players that many people expected to leave, and ended it with two of them still at the club is a positive. I can see no argument otherwise. Of course, whether that is because Watford doggedly refused to sell or simply that the interested clubs wouldn’t meet a valuation is something we might never know.

Positive supporters prefer to go for the former suggested explanation, the more negative amongst us will choose to go with the latter. The truth probably falls somewhere between the two.

Was it a good transfer window for the club? Well keeping Sarr and Pedro, as I’ve said, was an unexpected positive. I always thought that Dennis would be followed through the exit by one of the two, so I went to bed on Thursday night feeling lifted by that.

I was surprised we didn’t sign another option on the right side of defence, perhaps someone who is more attack minded than Gaspar. It certainly seems a shame that the obvious talents of the left-footed Kamara are hampered by him playing on the right.

Jeremy Ngakia will be a welcome return in defence

The return of Ngakia will obviously help in that respect, and he is a player I always felt offered plenty both in defensive and attacking aspects. Nonetheless, seeing some of the other right wing-backs who moved during the window did feel like a missed opportunity on the club’s behalf.

On the defence more generally, I find it puzzling that there seems to be some sort of reluctance to pay money for good defenders. We loan them, we take free transfers, but investment in proven, quality defenders is some sort of blind spot.

Some of our current defensive options have been relegated twice with Watford in the last three seasons. That’s not being critical of any individual player per se, more a bemusement that we are still expecting the same players to get us up (again) even though they are three years older and therefore unlikely to offer anything new. Surely even they would benefit from some help and competition for places?

Having said that, there is no doubting that both Hause and Davis look to be excellent acquisitions, albeit on loan. They add strength, physicality and presence at both ends of the pitch. Their performances at Rotherham were an obvious plus point, even though both are clearly not fully revved up. Their experience of playing at a higher level and the quality they bring could make telling differences.

Choudhury also looks a shrewd addition. His work rate has been very impressive, he’s combative and he gets around the pitch. There’s also been a noticeable uplift in what we’ve seen from Kayembe since Choudhury arrived – it’s often as much the effect a player has on those around him as it is what he does himself.

The two earliest arrivals on the summer, Bayo and Manaj, have had mixed starts to their life at Watford. Sadly, his hamstring injury means the Albanian will for now be judged on not taking a great chance at Preston and some hard-working but not overly flattering appearances.

Bayo has come into his own in the last two games. His winner against Middlesbrough was a classic ‘Johnny-on-the-spot’ moment but when you look back at his first touch as the ball came spinning to him it showed a bit of class as well.

He covers a lot of ground and his running off the ball which creates space for others is something his teammates and Edwards have praised. Then of course there’s his goal at Rotherham – whenever a player shapes to hit a ball on the volley there’s always that fear it will end up in Row Z isn’t there? But Bayo’s technique was pretty much textbook stuff: body turned, knee over the ball, watched it onto his foot and executed so well the ball was past Johansson pretty much before he moved.

Vakoun Bayo scoring the winner against Middlesbrough

The form of Bayo and what he adds in attack means there is less pressure to get Davis up to being able to play full 90 minutes immediately.

The players that departed close to deadline day were largely fringe players. Statisticians will know better than me but there can’t be many outfield players who have been on the Watford books for six years and only ever played four games, so Penaranda may have carved his own niche. However, he’s a reminder that for every Pedro and Asprilla the Watford network unearths, there will be others that don’t work out for whatever reason.

The fact that Pussetto was loaned out again was no surprise – that it was to Sampdoria, and not Udinese, was perhaps unexpected. Hopefully it might bring about a permanent transfer and a chance to recoup some of the money spent on a player who almost certainly seems set to be remembered purely for clearing the ball off the line to deny Tottenham a goal.

Mebude didn’t even get the chance to achieve that, though far better Watford let him move abroad to kick start his career than keep him.

Of course, perhaps one of the biggest surprises was the sale, and immediate return on loan, of Kamara. That’s a move that will require further questioning and scrutiny, something I hope I’ll be able to do in the coming weeks.

Selling your Player of the Season on the eve of the new campaign would have appeared somewhat suicidal but for the fact Udinese were happy for him to stay at Vicarage Road for the rest of this season. Less happy with that arrangement were fans of 23 other Championship clubs who called it immoral, unfair, shady etc. The fact the EFL haven’t even blinked suggest while it may irk other fans (and make some of our own feel a bit uneasy), it’s clearly not breaking any rules.

In that respect, hats off to the club for doing something quite smart. Remember, they have done this before and stayed well within the guidelines: who can forget Ian Holloway’s numerous rants when the likes of Abdi, Anya, Ekstrand and Vydra all arrived on the eve of the 2012/13 season?!

However, what will need explaining is why the club needed £16m so apparently immediately.

Earlier in the summer there were obviously other departures – like many others I can’t see much downside to losing Gray or King, Sissoko and Kucka clearly didn’t want to drop down to the Championship, and Masina was keen to make a fresh start elsewhere.

Quina is someone who looks like he has something to offer but for whatever reason hasn’t, and you have to think he’ll need to pull up a lot of trees at Elche to force his way back into contention over here.

At the start of the summer I thought Samir looked ideal for that left-sided berth in a back three that Edwards likes to play. However, once he started not appearing in pre-season friendlies it was clear he might not be hanging around. Hause for Samir is an undoubted upgrade, the only pity being the former didn’t arrive sooner.

Baah is a young player who might blossom so no surprise he has gone out to get game time in Germany, while Ashley Fletcher was one of the hardest signings of last summer to understand. He didn’t get much time for Watford, came back early from his loan in America and is now on loan at Wigan. People say he’s a very good pro though, so hopefully he finds his feet.

The sale of Cucho to Columbus Crew is an interesting one. I was told way back when I first started writing for the Watford Observer again that he had expressed a desire to move, so I wasn’t surprised when he did. The fee seemed pretty decent although his flair and ability to do something unexpected to turn a game could be missed.

Keinan Davis (Image: PA)

However, would I prefer to have Cucho than Davis? No, as I think Davis offers more and will offer it on a more regular basis. Plus I believe Cucho leaving opened up a space that Asprilla has been able to fit into.

Having watched a fair bit of MLS while I was on holiday in America (including a Columbus Crew game), I wouldn’t get too excited if Cucho scores lots of goals. The standard isn’t that high.

As I wrote earlier, losing Dennis was always expected and likely. Judged on the first half of last season, he would be missed. Reflect on the second half of last season, and it all became a bit ‘meh’. He may well be a great success at Nottingham Forest, but he’s certainly got plenty of competition even for a place in the matchday squad. He’ll have to be far more August to December 2021 and less January to May 2022.

There was plenty of emotion when Kiko departed for Spain. He’ll always be remembered as someone who gave plenty to the cause, and played a big role in most of the good times Watford had while he was here. His personal need to move back to Spain was something both he and the club did all they could to find a workaround for, but it was sadly inevitable eventually that he would have to move. Certainly a player that is currently missed bombing down that right side.

I probably haven’t covered every single in and out, and the fact that I haven’t shows just how frantic it has been since the season started, before you even talk about playing a match.

What Edwards now needs is time to mould together the old and the new. Let’s never forget, it was only back in April that we were all clamouring for a young, progressive English manager who the club would give time to establish a culture, positivity, approach and togetherness in a squad that had previously been fractured and tainted by negativity from within.

The club have delivered on the first part – we have a young English manager who, I believe, has rapidly improved the dressing room sentiment, unity and attitude. He’s working on the performances on the pitch and that will take a bit longer, though we’ve made a decent if unspectacular start.

Remember, when the fixtures were published and the first three games were Sheffield United/West Brom/Burnley, there were fears that we might be without a point after that opening trio of games. We got seven points, without playing that well. Man City took seven points from their first three games, Liverpool took just two. It happens to even the biggest and best.

Watford should be a play-off contender at the absolute minimum. Going up automatically will be tough but far from an impossible task.

For now though, we have our squad, any gossip can be parked and hopefully fans can discuss and absorb both positives and negatives without going off the deep end. There will be both, and we all need to be balanced during the coming months.

By the way, there are 119 days until the January transfer window opens if anyone wants to start booking medicals.