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Tom Cleverley has moved to start clearing out some of his squad ahead of a huge first summer in charge of Watford.

The Hornets published their retained list ahead of the summer on May 23, with experienced pair Jake Livermore and Ben Hamer and flop striker Ashley Fletcher all set to leave the club upon the expiry of their contracts.

Cleverley was made interim head coach after Valerien Ismael was sacked in March and assumed the permanent role in late April - he is likely to let some big-name players leave as the Hornets look to raise funds to allow him to bring in players that he definitely wants in the squad.

One player that seemingly has no future under the new permanent boss is left-back Jamal Lewis, who arrived at Vicarage Road on loan from Newcastle United last summer.

Watford held an option-to-buy clause in Lewis' loan deal, but they turned down the option to trigger it despite him playing relatively regularly throughout the campaign, so he will be returning to Newcastle.

It comes as no surprise that the Hornets do not want to keep the Northern Ireland international - big things were expected of him after coming from the Premier League, but he was underwhelming and did not do enough to be included in Cleverley's future plans.

The story of Lewis' loan spell

Despite being out in the cold in the previous two seasons at Newcastle, Watford would have been hoping that Lewis could rediscover the form he showed at Norwich City in his last spell in the second-tier, where he was an ever-present as they won promotion to the top-flight in 2019.

His time under then-boss Ismael did not get off to a great start as he sat out of the first five games of the season due to an initial lack of fitness after playing so few games at Newcastle, then a calf injury before he was set to make his debut away at Stoke.

He made his first appearance as a half-time substitute at home to Birmingham on September 16, and soon forced his way into the starting eleven, starting 17 successive games and even registering an assist against Hull.

Another injury saw him sidelined for three weeks at the turn of the year, but he returned again and started 15 of the final 19 league games of the campaign under both Ismael and Cleverley, even turning out in a more advanced left-wing-back role toward the end of the season.

While it may seem like he had a successful spell on the face of it, Lewis' underlying numbers do not make great reading for his time at Vicarage Road - he was not great attacking-wise and contributed to the club's worst season since 2009-10, so his constant inclusion in the squad was seemingly more due to the lack of numbers in his position rather than good performances.

In an interview with Football League World, fan pundit Justin Beattie called Lewis "one of the worst loan signings Watford have ever had," so it is quite clear to see that the move did not work out, and he did not charm the Hornets' supporters.

Lewis' future is not at Watford or Newcastle

Chronicle Live has reported that Watford have not taken up their option to buy Lewis, and he is set to return to Newcastle from his loan stint and search for a new club as they look to sell him permanently.

Eddie Howe inherited Lewis from the squad left by Steve Bruce in November 2021, but the 26-year-old has barely featured under Howe, who has made it clear that Lewis no longer has a future with the Magpies despite having a year left on his current deal.

Despite his poor season with Watford, Lewis will surely attract interest from Championship teams that need reinforcements at left-back and want to help him rediscover the form that saw Newcastle fork out £15m for his services in 2020.

He earns a reported £38,000-a-week at St James Park, according to Capology, so may have to lower his wage demands to find a permanent club this summer - if that does not happen, it would not be a shock to see Newcastle loan him out again to run down his deal, or even agree to a mutual termination of his contract in the coming months.

One thing is for sure, he will not be lining up in yellow and black at Vicarage Road come August.