Watford FC avoided £500k transfer mishap – patience well and truly paid off | OneFootball

Watford were richly rewarded for the faith they put in Troy Deeney

Watford will make few signings that turn out as well as their move for Troy Deeney went.

He is now a legend at the club for the bundles of goals he scored in both the Championship and the Premier League while with the Hornets.

Looking back, it’s hard to conclude his move from Walsall was anything other than an absolute bargain.

But much of that credit must go to Watford, who persevered with their striker through a difficult first season, and were rewarded as a result.

Troy Deeney experienced a difficult first season at Watford

The striker arrived with plenty of promise, having netted double figures in League One for Walsall two seasons on the trot before his move to Vicarage Road.

That tempted the Hornets to splash £500k on the then-22-year-old, with a further £150k promised if Watford reached the Premier League.

But he didn’t hit the ground running, netting just two goals and providing four assists in the Championship in his debut season.

However, given he was still a young striker at that stage, he was given the benefit doubt; a decision that would turn out to be one of Watford’s smarter ones.

The striker exploded after that first season

His second season was much more productive, providing 16 goal contributions in the 2011/12 second-tier season.

Just as he was getting into his stride, off-field issue threatened to hamper his progressing career, when he was jailed in June 2012 for affray after a brawl broke out outside a nightclub.

The striker was sentenced to 10 months, but by September had already been released, with plenty of uncertainty about how he’d return.

From a footballing perspective, no worry was needed, as Deeney registered his best season to date with 19 goals and nine assists in the league.

This was also the season the forward would create perhaps his ultimate career highlight: his last-minute winner in the 2013 play-off semi-final against Leicester City, following a dubious penalty at the other end that was saved by Manuel Almunia, which directly led to the winner, and a historic commentary moment reminiscent, albeit on a lesser scale, of Manchester City’s Aguero moment.

Deeney had already booked his place in Watford’s history books, and he’d barely got going.

Deeney will go down as a Watford legend

In the 2014/15 season, Deeney would record a career-best 31 goal involvements in the Championship, undoubtedly the key figure behind the Hornets’ promotion that year.

Not content with just that, he made the jump to the Premier League with the club, and while understandably not quite as prolific among some of Europe’s best teams, the striker held his own.

His goals during that period, 13 in his debut top-tier season, and double figures for two seasons after that, were crucial in sustaining Watford as a Premier League side for five consecutive seasons.

Watford are never likely to make a signing quite like Deeney again, and the story could have been so much different had they not shown that initial faith in him during his debut season with the club.