Deadline day saw some big moves right across Europe, and one of them was the Gerard Deulofeu loan move from Watford to Udinese.
The Hornets had a nightmare season last time around; relegated from the Premier League in a managerial fiasco after a five year stint in the top-flight, and back in the English second-tier.
Now as they begin their new season under the Serbian manager Vladimir Ivic, Watford don’t look as though they’ll be returning to the promised land anytime soon and hence, Deulofeu’s move could yet become permanent.
Deulofeu has been one of Watford’s main assets over the past few seasons. The ex-Barcelona, Milan, and Everton man is still only 26 yet it seems like he’s been round for an eternity.
His career has taken several ups and downs but after settling at Watford, his side’s unfortunate relegation has seen yet another downturn in the Spaniard’s footballing career.
But is it? He’s landed at a club good club in Udinese, but how might his future fare from here?
Deulofeu has missed the start of Watford’s Championship campaign through injury but it’s thought that he’ll be available for selection in Italy in the coming weeks.
His loan exit was imminent yesterday, and it looked all but confirmed that he’d be joining Fiorentina but, with that deal falling through, an Udinese move made all the sense.
The club is owned by the same Pozzo family as Watford and the pairing manage to strike up a deal which will see Deulofeu spend the season with Udinese in Serie A.
The club has had a torrid start to the new 2020-21 campaign though; they currently sit in the relegation zone of the Italian top-flight after losing all three of their opening games, and all without scoring a single goal.
It comes after the club secured a healthy 12th-placed finish last time around but in what was a tightly compact bottom-half, they only finished with a five-point gap to the drop zone.
Now, after losing their opening games and looking as though they might struggle this time, the pressure is on and the incoming Deulofeu will have it all to do if he’s to help his new side fend off relegation.
Everyone knows what Deulofeu is capable of on his day. Once even deemed a possible replacement for the great Lionel Messi, the potential has always been there, but the form has not.
He’s been in and out of every team he’s played for, but with all his trickery and his eye for goal, all he needs is to be settled at a top-flight club, and an attacking one at that.
Luca Gotti likes to deploy a divers 3-5-2 formation which can easily form into a 5-3-2, giving Deulofeu a number of positions. He could feature as a wing-back at first, but his primary focus will be on scoring goals, and so he might want to play as one of the two strikers.
Udinese made good profits in the transfer market this summer with the sale of Seko Fofana and did well in the market to bring in some bargain players – Fernando Forestieri joined on a free after his release from Sheffield Wednesday.
It’s a new-look side but so far they’ve struggled. Deulofeu will come in as arguably the Udinese main attacking threat and it’s a huge win for the club. They don’t yet have that bit of something extra in the final third but Deulofeu is exactly that. His return to full-fitness can’t come soon enough for Udinese, who host Parma after the international break.