Steven Berghuis
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Steven Berghuis makes it a perfect 10 summer signings at Watford

| 27.07.2015
SPORTSBOOK ODDS

Watford, 11/4 with Coral to finish bottom of the Premier League, have taken their summer signings to 10 with the reported £4.6m purchase of AZ Alkmaar attacker Steven Berghuis.

The Hornets are understood to have beaten off competition from Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven to land the 23-year-old Dutchman, and hand him a four-year deal at Vicarage Road.

Buying Berghuis is thus a coup, especially as the Lightbulbs were looking to replace high-profile departure and 2014/15 Netherlands top-flight leading marksman Memphis Depay with him.

If previously lined up transfer Juanfran Moreno, now on loan again at La Liga club Deportivo La Coruna, is included in their summer business, Watford have brought in 10 new faces plus the permanent signing of Matej Vydra to Hertfordshire for recently arrived coach Quique Sanchez Flores to work with.

While goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis is likely to play second fiddle behind Hornets number one Heurelho Gomes, all nine other captures could join Czech Republic frontman Vydra in the starting XI. That means Watford fans will hardly recognise their team from the one that did so well to earn promotion.

It would be sensible for Flores to blend existing options with incoming ones. Club captain Troy Deeney joins ex-Spurs stopper Gomes in being pretty sure of his place, but beyond that Hornets eyes will be glued to that Premier League opening wekeend teamsheet.

Watford summer signings 2015 - Football tactics and formations

Almen Abdi was a key player breaking forward from midfield last term, but the Swiss star sees his place come under threat from compatriot Valon Behrami and Flores favourite Jose Manuel Jurado.

Full backs Miguel Layun and Daniel Pudil see their spots come under threat from Allan Nyom and Jose Holebas, while Sebastian Prodl and Miguel Britos could form a new centre half pairing.

Shielding a potential new-look back four may be Etienne Capoue and Berghuis can expect a wide berth. How much of a departure Flores takes from the team of predecessor Slavisa Jokanovic will go quite some way to determining Watford’s chances of staying up (evens). They’re odds-on 8/11 favourites for the drop.

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Author

Jamie Clark

Athletics aficionado, die-hard snooker fan and Crystal Palace supporter Jamie has written for Coral since February 2014 after spells with Soccerlens and the Press Association as a digital journalist and copywriter. A former East Midlands sports correspondent and Bwin tipster, he is a graduate of both the University of York and University of Sheffield, with a Masters in web journalism from the latter.