Watford are in negotiations to sign a new striker and Yaser Asprilla is “not leaving".

They were among the key points to emerge from last night’s At Our Place event at Watford’s London Colney training ground.

Fans spent an hour-and-a-half questioning the panel of chairman and chief executive Scott Duxbury, head coach Valerien Ismael, technical director Ben Manga, sporting director Cristiano Giaretta and club captain Daniel Bachmann on a range of footballing matters.

Among the subjects covered during the informative exchanges were recruitment, changing the culture and attitude following the disappointment of the last two seasons, the overhaul in players during the summer and the abuse Watford’s goalkeeper suffered on social media in the wake of the announcement that he’d signed a five-year contract and been appointed club captain.

Elton John's involvement in the club was also addressed, as was club legend's Luther Blissett's role, while the panel were also asked their feelings on Luton Town's promotion to the Premier League.

There was a mood of cautious optimism in the room in the wake of the Hornets’ opening day 4-0 triumph over Queens Park Rangers but potential future incomings and outgoings were always likely to be raised with the transfer window still open.

There has been increasing speculation on social media claiming Asprilla was seeking a move away from Vicarage Road after he was an unused substitute for the victory over QPR and Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup exit at Stevenage.

Duxbury responded: “I don’t know what he’s looking to do but he’s not leaving.”

The Hornets have made six new signings this summer, including returning loanee Matheus Martins, and a seventh to fill the vacant Number 9 shirt may not be far away according to the chairman.

Asked if it is possible to sign a new striker costing several million pounds, or to bring in the next Richarlison or Joao Pedro, in light of an earlier question about ensuring the club is sustainable, Duxbury said: “Well, on the basis we’re currently negotiating for the new number nine I’m not going to be saying, yes, we will pay eight, nine, ten million. But our whole philosophy is if it’s the right player and it’s for the development and the future of the football club then of course we’ll bring that player in and that hasn’t changed.

“All Cristiano was talking about when he used the word sustainability is that the Championship doesn’t have the revenues that the Premier League has, so it doesn’t afford the same recruitment philosophy.

“However, even in the Premier League as we touched on at the last forum, we’re trying to go back to our core DNA which is we’re not going to sign the established Premier League players, we’re not going to go to Burnley and spend £18 million on their established Premier League player, we want to get the young players, we want to develop them and we want to bring that through.

“There needs to be a mix as we’ve demonstrated this season with bringing senior players in like Jake Livermore, but ideally we will always find those young players, bring them in early and develop them into £40 million, £50 million players. That was our philosophy at the beginning, we lost our way a little but I think this pre-season we’ve given back to our core and I’ve never witnessed a better pre-season than this and a better group.

“Technically you may say we’ve had better squads, it’s a debate, but I think this is the best team and the best squad I’ve been a part of during a pre-season. Money has nothing to do with it. It’s the coach, it’s the philosophy and it’s how the team have been brought together over the past seven weeks and are together for this campaign and I’ve never seen that before here which is fantastic.”

  • We’ll have more from last night’s fan event on this website throughout the day.