I wonder if Watford are moving some u23/u18 players out on loan to make room for several of the 1st team squad to play with the development side. It also has the added bonus of getting the young players playing more meaningful matches and out of the relative comfort of u23/u18 games. Harry Hudson - 18yr old centre back - moved on an initial 28 day loan to Cray Wanderers. That leaves Mason Barrett (19) & Bayli Spencer-Adams (18) as the two recognised centre-backs in the u23s, with u18s ready to step up. So far both Prodl & Zeegelaar have played centre-back for the u23s. Dan Phillips - 18yr old centre midfielder - moved on a 6 month loan to Hemel Hempstead. In the last match Callum Whelan (20) & Henry Wise (??) occupied the 2 central midfield positions with one of last seasons stand-out players Emmanuel Adebiyi (18) coming on as sub. Imaad Sankoh (17) looks to have been included more in his natural age group (u18s) so far, despite being involved at u23 level last season. This could enable Chalobah, Quina & Dele-Bashiru to drop in & out when opportunities in the 1st XI become sparse. Cameron Green - 18yr old left-back - moved on a 6 month loan to Braintree Town. Lewis Gordon (18) & Ryan Suckling (18 - who I believe has re-signed) look to be the other 2 left-backs in the u23 squad of players. Masina, Foulquier or even Zeegelaar may need to get game time at left-back. James Hoskins - 18yr old 'keeper - moved on an initial 28 day loan to Northwood. Like the 1st team squad Watford have plenty of goalies at development level, in fact I believe it's at least 5 who can be called upon. Dante Baptiste (??) seems to be first choice at u18s and Adam Parkes (19) for the u23s. Then there is Harvey White (18) as well as Hoskins (18). I believe there is also an even younger keeper called Isaac Evens (I'm not 100% sure he's a keeper at the moment though!) As has been well documented, both Pontus Dahlberg and Daniel Bachmann need game time in the 6 months before the next transfer window.
As noble as the thought is, I really don’t expect any of them will feature more than 1-3 times. That being said, given they are unlikely to even be on the bench this season and they haven’t been loaned, Dahlberg and Dele-Bashiru should definitely be featuring heavily for them. The problem being that neither of those players signed to play at that level.
I agree, a couple of times at most each just to get some game time somewhere until the next transfer window in January when some will be moved on (hopefully!) That's the thing to remember for now, whether what I've intimated in my original post is correct or not, it's only for the next 4 months and not the remainder of their contracts.
I really do think it would be worthwhile for The Pozzo’s to look at adding a new club to their portfolio personally. The Udinese one will always be there but doesn't really serve a great purpose anymore - but will obviously remain due to family reasons (and maybe financial ones too.) But securing a club in one of the more minor European leagues would certainly help offload some of these players and get them regular game time.
What about buying a Greek club like PAE Kerkyra, you can walk to the ground from Corfu airport. The island is a lovely place to stay. We could also send them lots of our future players and maybe Deeney as player/manager
Gomes was crap in the cup final and got off lightly because of the general frustration at the record thumping. He was absolutely dire for the first two goals - first one trickled in, nowhere near the corner of the goal and he lost the flight of the ball for the second. That's what we're in store for if Foster gets injured...
Agreed. Ridiculous to play him in the final and if they really believe he's more reliable than B or D. they should have signed a 5th keeper and loaned out B & D.
