Football League World
·21 September 2022
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·21 September 2022
With Rob Edwards favouring a system that uses very attacking wing-backs, many suspected Kiko Femenia would be a key player for Watford this season.
That is because although the 31-year-old has been a regular for the club in recent seasons, his very best football came in the Championship previously, particularly when playing as a wing-back under former Hornets boss Vladimir Ivic.
During that 2020/21 campaign, the then 29-year-old featured 37 times for the Hornets in league action, registering four assists. He also got five assists in the Premier League last term.
However, due to personal reasons, Femenia wanted to return to his homeland, Spain, and so the full-back was duly sold.
Joining up with Villareal – last year’s Champions League semi-finalists – Femenia certainly landed on his feet.
With that in mind, and the international break upon us, here at FLW, we thought we’d take a look at how the Spaniard was getting on at his new club.
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It looks to have been a decent enough start for Kiko Femenia back in Spain, at least in terms of game time.
So far, the 31-year-old has featured eight times for the club, with half of these coming from the start, and the rest as a substitute.
Three of those starts came in La Liga against Elche, Real Betis and Sevilla respectively, whilst Femenia also started against Hadjuk Split in Villareal’s second Europa Conference League qualifier last month.
Elsewhere, Femenia has featured off the bench in the Europa Conference League against Lech Poznan and Hapoel Beer Sheva, as well as in La Liga against Getafe.
Given that Getafe sub appearance was his first league appearance for the club, though, it’s safe to assume that the Spaniard is first choice full-back at present.
That fact makes the move away from Watford and the Championship look like a good one this summer, even if the Hornets could do with him at wing-back themselves.