"Will go down as..." - Watford urged to take Newcastle United action this summer | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Watford are one of many teams in the conversation for a place in the play-offs, due to the congested nature of the Championship table at present.

After a disappointing first season back in the second tier, Valerien Ismael has been granted the time to put things right at Vicarage Road, a luxury which has so often bypassed a plethora of managers who came before him to the Hertfordshire outfit.

This is despite an overall trend of inconsistency in the Hornets' performances throughout the 2023/24 campaign to date.

Within weeks of taking over the reins in the off-season, one of Ismael's first signings at the club was Jamal Lewis, who has previous experience of gaining promotion from this division to the top-flight from his time at Norwich City.

Lewis has been a mainstay in the side throughout this season, but our Hornets fan pundit Justin Beattie hasn't been overly impressed by the left-back's performances when speaking to Football League World.

"With regard to Jamal Lewis. Personally, I think we should probably tie up all loose ends with him, and let him go back to Newcastle at the end of the season," Beattie began.

"I've not been impressed with him as a player. He doesn't go forward particularly well, doesn't seem to be gelling with the team as such," he continued.

Beattie concluded: "He'll ultimately go down as a loan player that will be largely forgotten in years going forward. I wish him well and all the best, but for me, he's not cut it at Vicarage Road,"

When he made the temporary move from St James' Park just weeks before the first game of this second tier season, the deal did feature a clause that Watford have the option to make it permanent at the conclusion of this campaign.

Whilst the fee hasn't been revealed publicly yet, Beattie's viewpoint on the former Canaries full-back is certainly a contrasting one to that of Ismael, who has continuously stuck with the Northern Ireland international.

Back in December, the former Barnsley head coach praised the 25-year-old's progression within the team, stating that he was the epitome of Watford's season as a whole.

“I think Jamal Lewis is the perfect example of our season,” he claimed via the Watford Observer.

“He came in the summer with an injury so he didn’t really have a pre-season, and then he came back and had to adapt.

“Week in, week out he trained with consistency, he played with consistency, and now we see that he is able to compete at that level for 90 minutes," Ismael added.

“Of course now our expectations are raising because we have put the player in the position to perform, and now for him it is about repetition of his own performance.”

Jamal Lewis' future

There's still plenty of time for Lewis to showcase his ability at second tier level, with two-and-a-half months of the regular season still to play.

The fact his and the side's general performances have been inconsistent should give them added motivation throughout a period that will define their top six chances. His previous exploits at Carrow Road will also come in useful in that regard.

Whether his long-term future is at Vicarage Road remains to be seen, but it looks certain that it won't be in the North East despite having one year left to run on his current deal with Newcastle.