Central defender Kevin Keben is expected to join Watford from Toulouse by the end of the week.

The Watford Observer understands the defender will be at London Colney at some point in the new few days for his medical, and the signing should be confirmed by the end of the week.

Toulouse director of football Damien Comolli has said earlier in the summer that Keben would stay at the club, but with only a year left on his contract they have had a change of heart and allowed him to head to Vicarage Road.

Born in Cameroon, Keben moved to France when he was only two-years-old and by the age of five he started playing football for regional team Toulouse Montaudran.

When he was 10, Keben joined the Academy system at Toulouse and then progressed through the age groups of the French top-tier club.

He played for their Under-19s in the 2019/20 season, and then made his senior debut the next year when he played in the French Cup tie against Aubagne at the age of 18.

Keben spent the 21/22 campaign with Toulouse B, making 11 appearances, all of which were as a starter.

In 22/23 he split his playing time between the first team and the B team.

His 11 senior appearances in that campaign in Ligue 1 saw him start four times and come off the bench on seven occasions.

He started eight times for the B team, and captained the side on one occasion.

Last season he made 11 first-team appearances, eight of them as a starter, and clocked up 683 minutes of senior football.

That included two appearances in the Europa League against Benfica and LASK.

He played in three of Toulouse’s final four league games of the season, helping them beat a L’Orient team that included Imran Louza and then playing the full 90 minutes as Toulouse claimed a notable 3-1 win away at Paris St Germain, who had Kylian Mbappe in their team.

All told, Keben has played 23 first-team games for Toulouse, 19 of them in the league.

The defender has played twice for Cameroon Under-23s, both appearances coming in qualifiers for the 2023 Under-23 African Cup of Nations.

While still relatively young, it’s understood Keban is viewed as a player who can step straight into first-team football, whereas fellow loanee defender Antonio Tikvic is seen as more of a prospect.