Tom Cleverley must look back at 2014 Watford trio with serious envy: View | OneFootball

Having been appointed permanent Watford FC head coach ahead of next season, Tom Cleverley has a busy summer ahead.

With the club having finished 15th in the Championship this campaign, and just six points clear of the relegation zone, the new Hornets boss certainly has his work cut out to get the team heading in the right direction.

For two seasons now, Watford have been nothing more than mid-table and mediocre, and it could take a lot to change that heading into next season.

Striking struggles at Vicarage Road

One area heading into next season that certainly looks as though it needs improving at Vicarage Road is the striking department.

Watford started the season with three strikers on their books, with Vakoun Bayo in his second season at the club, and Rhys Healey and Mileta Rajovic embarking on their debut campaigns at Vicarage Road.

Healey had arrived on a free transfer back at the start of pre-season, whilst Rajovic was touted as the forward addition the club had been craving, signing for a reported £1.7m fee in August.

Between them, however, they managed just 18 Championship goals in 2023/24, with Rajovic netting 10 times, and Bayo and Healey finding the back of the net on six and two occasions respectively.

This clearly is not good enough if you want to be successful in the division, or it is going to make it a lot harder to be, at the very least.

For example, their combined 18 league goals would only rank joint 5th in the division for scorers this campaign, with Jamie Vardy (18), Morgan Whittaker (19), Crysencio Summerville (20), Adam Armstrong (21) and Sammie Szmodics (27) scoring as many as the Watford trio or more individually this season.

With the above in mind, it seems clear that a striker will be on Tom Cleverley's wishlist when it comes to transfers this summer.

Cleverley must envy 2014 Watford trio

It has not been often that Watford lack firepower in the division, and they certainly did not after the summer 2014 and the recruitment the club undertook during that period.

Oh how Tom Cleverley would love for the club to have as strong of a strike force as it did back then heading into next season.

During the summer of 2014, for example, both Odion Ighalo and Matej Vydra signed for the club on loan, with Ighalo turning that deal permanent in October that same year.

Their arrivals followed a dismal season for the Hornets in which they had finished 13th, a finish not too dissimilar to the 15th place Watford achieved this past season.

Of course, they joined Troy Deeney who had already established himself as a 20-goal-per-season striker at this stage, and Watford did not look back.

Watford went on to win automatic promotion that season, and all three of the strikers played their parts at differing stages.

Deeney, Ighalo and Vydra scored goals for fun

Running out as top scorer and perhaps the most important was Troy Deeney. The Watford skipper played 41 times in the Championship that season, scoring an impressive 21 goals and registering 10 assists for his teammates to tally a total of 31 direct goal contributions.

Despite a modest and steady start in yellow, Odion Ighalo caught fire around the festive period that season, and his goals proved vital in helping the club compete for automatic promotion honours.

The Nigerian forward, despite having just three goals to his name at Christmas, finished on 20 league goals for the season, as well as four assists.

Arguably the most clinical finisher of the trio, Matej Vydra's goals that campaign were of equal importance. Sometimes in and out of the side as a starter due to the success of the above duo, Vydra still racked up plenty of appearances and scored a lot of important goals.

The Czech forward ended the campaign with 16 strikes and six assists in 42 league matches, including a 90th minute strike away at Brighton in the penultimate match of the season to seal a 2-0 victory on a day Watford had been under the cosh.

That victory against Brighton in the early kick-off that day meant that by 5pm, Watford were once again a Premier League side.

Tom Cleverley will dream of 2014 Watford trio

With Watford needing added firepower this summer, boss Tom Cleverley can only look back at Watford's 2014 strike force with real envy and wish he had such talent at his disposal.

Between them that season, Deeney, Ighalo and Vydra netted 57 goals and registered 19 assists, a frankly ridiculous 76 direct goal contributions between them. Rajovic, Bayo and Healey simply did not compare.

The Deeney, Ighalo, Vydra trio were undoubtedly key in Watford's success that season, and dare we say, it could be some time until striking power like it is seen at Vicarage Road again.