Watford appoint 42-year-old Uruguayan Paulo Pezzolano as new manager | OneFootball

Ex-Real Valladolid coach Paulo Pezzalano is poised to become the Hornets' next head coach

Watford have confirmed the appointment of ex-Real Valladolid manager Paulo Pezzolano as their latest head coach.

Hornets owner Gino Pozzo sacked ex-Man United midfielder Tom Cleverley after the conclusion of the 2024-25 Championship season, and revealed he was seeking a more experienced figure to lead the club going forwards.

Pozzo appears to have moved rather swiftly to replace Cleverley, and he has done so with a name that won't be familiar to many within English football.

Watford appoint Paulo Pezzolano as Tom Cleverley's successor at Vicarage Road

As first reported by talkSPORT's Alex Crook, an announcement was imminent at Vicarage Road that Pezzolano is set to be the latest to arrive through the revolving door of managers, and that has now been confirmed by the club.

Pezzolano's last job was at La Liga outfit Real Valladolid, where he was appointed in April 2023 and lasted until November 2024, when he was sacked by the Spanish side.

He has however been dubbed a "promotion specialist", having taken Valladolid, Brazilian side Cruzeiro and Uruguayan outfit Torque up from the second tier of their respective countries, and he will now be aiming to do the same with Watford.

Reports suggest that the 42-year-old has been handed a one-year contract to guide the Hornets forward, with the option to extend that from the club's side by a further 12 months, should he be a relative success.

His appointment will staggeringly be the 21st appointment of a manager since Sean Dyche's departure in July 2012, and in that 13-year period only three of those have lasted over 12 months in the job.

Watford's crest on a corner flag

Reuters / Hannah McKay

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Cleverley was a popular man on the Vicarage Road terraces, so the decision to sack him days after the Championship season ended was one that wasn't well-received.

Despite finishing 14th in the table, having spent relatively little compared to what kind of transfer fees were brought in, Cleverley was deemed to be not experienced enough to take the club forward by Pozzo, despite the fact a divisional rival in the form of Norwich City have been looking into hiring him recently.

Pozzo's decision to make another change in the dugout means Pezzolano cannot afford a slow start to the 2025-26 season, or else supporters will be on his back very quickly.