“An area the Hornets need to strengthen” – Watford eyeing move for player currently at the World Cup: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Watford are eyeing Canadian international midfielder Ismael Kone ahead of the January transfer window.

That is according to Tuttomercatoweb, who report that the Hornets are ‘highly interested’ in the 20-year-old midfielder.

Kone currently plays his football for CF Montreal in Major League Soccer, and so far has 32 senior appearances to his name.

The midfielder also has seven international caps for Canada, and is a part of their World Cup squad in Qatar.

Indeed, he featured from the bench for the Canadians in their 1-0 defeat to Belgium on Wednesday night.

With all of the above in mind, below, three of our FLW writers have offered their verdict on the links, and whether or not midfield was an area the Hornets needed to strengthen.

Simmey Hannifin-Donaldson

I can understand this link to be honest.

Whilst I’m not massively clued up on Ismael Kone having seen very little of MLS, midfield is certainly an area the Hornets need to strengthen when it comes to the January window.

Tom Cleverley is rehabbing from injury, Dan Gosling and Imran Louza are longer-term absentees and Tom Dele-Bashiru is also coming off the back of an injury. All of which has left the Hornets rather light in the centre of the park.

Kone is clearly highly rated given he is in the Canada squad for the World Cup at just 20-years-old and, if Watford can strike a reasonable deal with his MLS club Montreal, this may well be a deal worth doing for the Hornets.

Quiz: What shirt number are these 25 current Watford players?

1 of 25

What is Joao Pedro's shirt number?

10 9 8 12

Declan Harte

Koné has emerged as a bright young talent coming through MLS and the Canadian national system.

The midfielder has already earned his World Cup debut and has been an integral part of CF Montreal’s side as they finished 2nd in the league this season.

Taking the step up to the Championship would be a big test of his ability, but he could prove a smart long-term addition to the team, especially given a likely low cost of getting the deal done.

Watford have a decent set of midfield options, but could use some fresh legs to help the squad gain ground on their promotion rivals, particularly given how we have seen the hectic schedule already play a role in hampering clubs with injuries so far this season.

Sam Rourke

Watford certainly need to consider bolstering their central midfield options with the likes of Tom Cleverley and Imran Louza out with injuries, and Kone looks an exciting option.

He’s a young talent that is making a name for himself for MLS Side CF Montreal and having featured for the Canada International side at this year’s World Cup, he looks a good long-term prospect.

The Hornets have a number of young players that they have plucked from around the world and grown into top players with Joao Pedro and Richarlison among those, whilst young Yaser Asprilla looks like he could be the next in line.

So for Bilic and Watford, Kone definitely looks like he could be a viable solution for the future and a pick-up that ultimately could turn out to be a coup.