Burnley FC will always wonder what could've been with failed move for Watford FC club legend | OneFootball

Burnley will always wonder how things would've worked out if they signed Troy Deeney

It's hard for Burnley fans to pick too many holes in the near-decade of service they got out of Sean Dyche, but recruitment was certainly one area that drew frustration nearly every summer.

Although that wasn't solely down to Dyche, more so former chairman Mike Garlick who was notoriously stringent in the market, Dyche played his part as he had a certain type of player he liked and he wasn't keen to deviate away from that.

That was certainly to Burnley's detriment in the end, as their squad had just become so depleted it was nigh-on impossible to compete at the top level any longer and an inevitable relegation followed in 2021/22.

Dyche's reign came to an end just before that season, but Clarets fans will always look back tinged with regret, wondering if things would've turned out differently if the recruitment had been different.

There were certain players who stick in the memory over those years, with the likes of Craig Bryson, Craig Dawson and Henri Lansbury creating transfer sagas of their own, but one man who often goes under the radar is Troy Deeney, who Dyche was a long-term admirer of.

Troy Deeney was a long-term Burnley target

The first rumblings of Burnley being interested in Deeney came in the summer of 2014 after they had been promoted out of the Championship, with the Clarets understood to have made the Watford frontman their "top priority".

A move never materialised, but that was a massive kick in the teeth for Burnley, who at the time were desperate to bring in reinforcements, as after their surprise promotion, their squad was nowhere near was could be deemed competitive at Premier League level.

The reported £10m Watford wanted at the time would've been a record transfer for the Clarets, and after their instant return to the Championship, they must've been left pondering whether Deeney could've been the difference between survival and relegation.

Fast-forward four years and Burnley had got themselves back into the Premier League and into Europe and returned to try and sign Deeney, this time offering the Hornets £9m and Deeney himself a hefty five-year deal, but again a deal never came off.

Yet again, Burnley were left to ponder whether Deeney could've helped them reach the group stages of the Europa League, as Dyche heavily rotated his squad throughout them qualifiers, and that ultimately played its part in why they crashed out in the play-off round.

Troy Deeney stayed at Watford and earned legend status

If most people were asked to name a modern-day Watford great, it would be a near certainty that most would name Deeney, such was the impact he made at Vicarage Road over a long period of time.

Deeney came with huge baggage throughout his time at Watford owing to off-field misdemeanors, but on the pitch he earned his stripes as a club legend.

He went on to become the club's record goalscorer and played a huge part in two Championship promotions for the Hornets, while he also helped them reach an FA Cup final in 2019.

He also finished his Premier League playing days with an impressive strike rate of a goal almost every three games.

After 11 seasons of service, Deeney left Watford to sign for boyhood club Birmingham as his career drew to a close, before a move to Forest Green later brought to an end what was a phenomenal playing career.