Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Watford on a spending spree after recent takeover

Watford have made seven new signings including former Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia as well as former QPR defender Fitz Hall.

Almunia, 35, and Hall, 31, have both agreed one year contracts with the club and will add experience to Gianfranco Zola's side.

The other five players that have joined the Hornets are on season long loan deals from Italian Serie A side Udinese and Spanish side Granada, which are both owned by the Pozzo family who recently took over Watford last month. Midfielders Daniel Pudil and Almen Abdi as well as forwards Matej Vydra, Steve Leo Beleck and Ikechi Anya have all joined the club.

Watford's technical director Gianluca Nani told the club's website that he expects the new signings to have a positive impact on the team and that the club are constantly looking to add to the side.

Manuel Almunia, who joined Arsenal in 2004 and made 175 appearances for them, will fill the void left by Scott Loach after he left the club to join Ipswich. And Fitz Hall, who joins from QPR and has played for Oldham, Southhampton, Crystal Palace, Wigan, as well as a loan spell at Newcatle, will have the job of replacing Adrian Mariappa who left the Hornets to join Premier League new boys Reading.

Though, from the other signings only Ikechi Anya, who was born in Glasgow, has played in England before with Wycombe and Northhampton before making the move to Granada in Spain.

Daniel Pudil and Udinese midfielder Abdi are both full internationals, the Czech Republic and Switzerland respectively, and have both impressed during preseason.

Though, some fans have had concerns over some of the loan signings as the feel that the Pozzo family, who own Granada and Udinese, might use the club as a 'nursery' to help provide experience and develop Udinese's youngsters.

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