Figures published by the football data website Transfermarkt.co.uk show Watford have had the 14th highest transfer income of clubs in England in the last 10 years.

The Hornets are reported to have banked £378m over the last decade, placing them above Premier League clubs likes Newcastle (£354m), Nottingham Forest (£261m) and Brentford (£233m).

Two clubs have raked in more than £1bn in transfer income: Chelsea (£1.37bn) and Manchester City (£1.01bn).

Training ground neighbours Arsenal are only one place above the Hornets with £407m, while Manchester United are five spots higher on £487m.

Unsurprisingly, all of the 13 clubs that have made more than Watford are currently in the Premier League, with Leeds the next highest Championship club at £308m.

The sales of Richarlison to Everton for £35m in 2018 and Joao Pedro to Brighton for £30m last summer are the biggest deals in the last 10 years.

It has to be remembered, of course, that modern-day transfers are structured in a way that portions of the actual fees are paid at different times – so for example, although the vast majority of the Pedro fee was received when the player moved to the Seagulls, there could still be further instalments to be paid.

 

Three other Watford sales in the last decade have been worth in and around £20m: Odion Ighalo’s move to Chinese side Changchun Yatai, Abdoulaye Doucoure’s switch to Everton and, incredibly Dodi Lukebakio’s transfer to Hertha Berlin after he had made just one 15-minute appearance for the Hornets.

Surprisingly perhaps, the list of top fees received by Watford on the Transfermarkt site, shows that 10th largest sum the club have been paid is still the £10m Aston Villa handed over for Ashley Young in January 2007.

The most recent transfer to appear in the Watford list is the £10m when Ismael Kone joined Marseille earlier in the summer.

Meanwhile striker Luis Suarez, who cost just £100,000 from Leones in the summer of 2017, earned the Hornets some £8.5m when he joined Granada three years later without ever having played a single minute of competitive football at Vicarage Road.