Watford supporters have to be frustrated by Imran Louza exploits: View | OneFootball

Watford are having a decent season so far.

The Hornets are currently in a race for the play-offs, with Valerien Ismael’s side sat in 11th position, just four points off the top six.

Watford have decided to stick with Ismael, despite a poor run of form which has seen them win just one of their last seven Championship games.

Overall across the season they have been fairly inconsistent, with Ismael not settled on a starting eleven.

One of the players who had fallen victim to this was Imran Louza.

Imran Louza’s Watford situation

The Moroccan midfielder has been at Watford since the summer of 2021, joining from French side Nantes for a fee believed to be around £10 million.

Louza has been inconsistent in his time with Watford when it comes to injuries, having had a knee injury in the 21/22 campaign that kept him out for five months, and an ankle injury last season that kept him on the sidelines for 3 months.

The 24-year-old had been a regular under Ismael at the start of the season, but had only made one start since mid-October.

After falling out of the team, Watford sanctioned a loan move for Louza for the rest of the season.

He made the move back to France with Lorient, who are in a relegation battle in Ligue 1.

Louza’s excellent start in France

Having played just 82 minutes of football since the start of November, you would forgive Louza for needing time to get his match fitness and sharpness up before making a real impact in France.

However, Louza has had an unexpectedly brilliant start at Lorient.

He scored and got an assist in his debut in a 3-3 draw with Le Havre, and then got another assist in his second game in a 2-1 win over Metz.

When looking at his stats per 90, it shows just how good his start has been on the other side of the English Channel.

He ranks highly for chance creation and shot attempts, clearly making more of an impact going forward.

Some of the stats that stand out are that he averages 3.73 chances created per 90, 3.20 successful crosses per 90, and 83.1 touches per 90.

Watford should have signed a replacement

Whilst Louza had been out of the team for a while going into the January transfer window, Watford may have overlooked the fact they needed a replacement.

As Louza is now showing in France, he is a player with brilliant quality, and Watford have been lacking a real attacking option from midfield.

Ismael Kone has been Louza’s replacement in the midfield, but has not had as big of an impact, contributing to just four goals since the start of November.

Watford failed to bring any central midfielder, with their only new signing being that of the returning Emmanuel Dennis on loan from Nottingham Forest.

With the lack of attacking quality in Watford’s midfield options, Watford will be frustrated to see Louza doing so well already in France.