Opinion: After recent Watford developments, 23-year-old may be best seeking a January move away | OneFootball

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Football League World

·6 December 2022

Opinion: After recent Watford developments, 23-year-old may be best seeking a January move away

Article image:Opinion: After recent Watford developments, 23-year-old may be best seeking a January move away

Watford seem serious about mounting a Championship promotion challenge in the second half of the season.

Indeed, we are only in the opening week of December, and yet, as per reports, the Hornets have already agreed two January additions already.


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One of those additions is Fluminense winger Matheus Martins.

As per Fabrizio Romano, a deal has been agreed that will see the young Brazilian head to Vicarage Road next month.

Romano reports that Udinese will loan the talented youngster to the Hornets after agreeing a multi-million fee for the player.

The other dealing was also broken by Fabrizio Romano, with the journalist tweeting on Sunday night that a deal was also done for Watford to sign Montreal midfielder Ismael Kone.

Watford confirmed this deal on Monday evening.

Kone recently featured for Canada at the FIFA World Cup, and is clearly a bright prospect, with the Hornets said to have beaten German, Dutch and Italian clubs to his signature.

It is this transfer development at Watford, though, that should spur a certain Watford player into action in terms of wanting a move away from the club, in my opinion.

That player is midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru, who must now surely demand a loan exit from Vicarage Road in January in order to try and find more game time.

For whatever reason, Dele-Bashiru’s career at Vicarage Road has just never really got going.

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

1 of 25

Article image:Opinion: After recent Watford developments, 23-year-old may be best seeking a January move away

What is Joao Pedro's shirt number?

10 9 8 12

The midfielder joined the Hornets in 2019 and looked as though he could have a real role to play in the 2020/21 Championship campaign after the Hornets were relegated from the Premier League.

Cruelly, injury struck just as the young midfielder was breaking into the side.

What looked like being a breakout season for the youngster resulted in a cruciate ligament rupture and a campaign on the sidelines.

By the time Dele-Bashiru returned, the club were a Premier League side, and so a loan to Championship outfit Reading followed.

During this spell, Dele-Bashiru gained valuable experience, featuring 39 times for the club in 2021/22.

There was hope once again, then, that with Watford back in the second tier this season, he could once again potentially have an impact.

But as luck would have it, injury struck again in pre-season.

Those setbacks have left Dele-Bashiru on the fringes at Vicarage Road, though he has returned to fitness in recent weeks despite a number of injuries to the club’s central midfielders.

Indeed, for that reason, and with Kone now set to arrive, the 23-year-old is surely best seeking a temporary departure.

Whilst he is not incapable of winning his place in the team, it seems unlikely it will happen this season following Kone’s arrival, and at 23, it really ought to be the time the midfielder is racking up his experience.

Indeed, throughout his senior career so far, he has played less than 50 matches, and this is a number that ought to be a lot higher given his talents.

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