Matheus Martins has returned to Watford for a second spell on loan after spending the latter half of last season with the Hornets.

The Brazil Under-20 international – who turns 20 on July 16 – will stay at Vicarage Road for the whole of the 2023/24 campaign after Udinese agreed to another loan deal.

Martins originally arrived at Vicarage Road in January, having signed for Udinese from Fluminense, where he made more than 50 first-team appearances.

He made a total of six appearances for Watford, all of them under former head coach Slaven Bilic. He last first-team outing was a substitute in the draw at Burnley in February.

There was a taste of things perhaps to come, though, when Martins scored a hat-trick for the Under-21s as they routed Peterborough 7-0 at Vicarage Road at the end of March.

That day he was played as a left-sided forward in a front three, rather than as an out-and-out wide man, and posed a real threat.

The forward was allowed to join up with the Brazil Under-20 squad in April for a series of friendlies ahead of the Under-20 World Cup, and Martins scored in a 4-1 win over Uzbekistan.

He was then part of the Brazil’s squad at the finals, playing in all three of their group games as they progressed with three victories including a 6-0 demolition of the Dominican Republic in which Martins scored.

He netted again as Brazil beat Tunisia 4-1 in the round of 16, before he played most of the 3-2 extra-time defeat to Israel.

That now gives Martins a total of five goals in nine Under-20 appearances for his country.