In his own words: I’m a strong, physical central defender with qualities on the ball. Hoedt joined hometown club AZ Alkmaar at the age of 11 and progressed through the club’s academy to make his senior debut in a UEFA Europa League match against PAOK in December 2013. He established himself in the first-team squad the following season and made 24 league appearances, scoring twice. The defender agreed to join Lazio on a free transfer in the summer of 2015 and featured regularly in Serie A over 24 starts. The Dutchman found it difficult to break into the XI at the start of last season, but was a regular during the second half of the campaign, scoring two goals in 23 league outings. Hoedt represented Holland at U20 and U21 levels, making 10 appearances, before making his senior debut against Bulgaria in 2017. He won his six caps in that season always as a starter. Hoedt has the ability to switch play with accurate long diagonal passes and is strong in the tackle and aerially a force to be reckoned with hopefully like Porteous which will make us a threat at attacking set pieces and less likey to concede from opposition corners. His career has stalled from a troubled time at Southampton to a fall out at Anderlecht but if he can regain his form and return to the progression he was showing at Lazio we could have at last a CB pairing, Hoedt on the left Porteous on the right who do not treat the ball like a grenade about to explode and show leadership. We will need both FBs to be aware of the need to cover them as they are not the quickest and a more mobile midfield too.
Any reason why we don't just move the transfer threads into this section when they're signed? Would save people commenting on two threads and then having to lock one and start a new one.
Says he wants to be more than just a defender - well true we need to be better with the ball but hopefully he can do his day job first.
Cost £220k potentially rising to 800k. https://mobile.twitter.com/WD18Fans/status/1626154598107848708
Porteous and Hoedt for under 500K is sensational, and hopefully a sign of things to come after 3 really dreadful windows.
A sign that we’re soon to be potless, if nothing else. Though hopefully it shows Pozzo there’s value to be had.
I'd like to get my 'I told you so, I'm a football genius' snide remarks in. Before his inevitable regression to the mean, as he gets coached to injury or mediocrity, like most Watford signings that start brightly.
I remember the enlightened continually lecturing us over the years that we couldn’t replace Marriappa and Kabesle because it would cost £20m.
I've been slapped down and blocked on Twittet for pointing this out. Love it on there. Makes @WatfordTalk seem like the king of the mattress pissers
It's pronounced 'Hoot' with a sort of Dutch aspiration over the vowels. Shame on all our puns in the transfer thread.
Not on mine: "His name seems to be pronounced in Dutch like "hoot". So every time he heads or clears the ball away fans need to shout: "Hoedt, there it is!"." https://wfcforums.com/index.php?threads/wesley-hoedt.59983/page-8#post-3212681
Can't pin all the blame on him as his error happened a while before their first goal, but still, I get the feeling he's not as big an upgrade on what we had before than some on here are making, our defensive record since the defensive revolution isn't fantastic
Really? Thought he looked classy, won some big tackles and headers, and sprayed the ball about nicely, which made a change from our usual CBs.
I think he looks like an upgrade and ultimately if we didn’t have the incredible dud up front and could keep the ball up the other end more it’d be easier on all our defenders.
Yes, two mistakes - giving the ball away and then missing his tackle. But he's generally a strong defender in the air and on the ground, and passes the ball forward better than Chauds or Kone. Not as good as Porteus, but they complement each other well.
Something very Miguel Britos about the way he launches left foot passes from the back that occasionally come off but mostly go miles out of play. Big fan.
I agree at the moment - I'm not sure Cathcart was actually playing any worse in recent games before he got injured again. He's been good in the air and has quality on the ball, but he does seem to have a habit of getting easily dribbled passed by any forward with a bit of pace, partly because he seems a bit cumbersome and very one-footed, but also because he seems to think he's quicker than he is and so over-commits to balls he won't reach. I think Hoedt does have the potential to further improve though at least.
