Dyche's Watford strike pair lead the week's speculation

Last updated : 23 June 2014 By Tony Scholes

When Sean Dyche took over from Malky Mackay as Watford manager three years ago his first game in charge was a 2-2 draw against Burnley at Turf Moor. In the starting line up in attack that day for Watford were Chris Iwelumo, having just signed from Burnley, and Marvin Sordell whilst Iwelumo was replaced by Troy Deeney with just over 20 minutes remaining, just before Watford moved into a two goal lead.

None of the three scored that day but two of them, not Iwelumo I must confirm, have been very strongly linked with us during the last week. A link with Deeney is probably no surprise. It's been ongoing since even before last season ended but suggestions this week, from the Watford end, are that he could be on his way.

 
Eddie Howe is reported to be interested in Junior Stanilas

I thought there must have been some fall out at Vicarage Road when I saw quotes a few days ago from Mathias Ranegie that he would be on his way should Deeney not leave. It wasn't the case; it was just Ranegie, who Watford signed from Udinese in January, knowing that his chances of getting games at Watford depend very much on whether Deeney stays as he would remain the preferred choice.

It's one that I think we should continue to keep an eye on but the link with Deeney's old Watford partner Sordell came as a bit of a surprise. The first link came from the Bolton News earlier in the week, this before it was splashed across Twitter by Alan Nixon.

Nixon, who once described himself as a Coyleite, is also very much a Freedmanite (is that really a word?) and is therefore likely to still know about the goings on at Bolton just as much as their local paper.

I was surprised when I read up on Sordell to first realise he's still just 23 years of age. He was very much Dyche's first choice striker at Watford but he lost him in a big £3 million just as the January 2012 transfer window was about to slam shut.

Sordell was just 19 and his new manager Coyle said: "I am delighted to have brought Marvin to our club. There were a number of other Premier League clubs tracking him. We know that he has great potential and I am really looking forward to working with him."

He made his Bolton debut just a few days later as a late substitute in a 2-0 defeat at Norwich and that was as good as it got for him with just two more substitute appearances that season as they slipped out of the top flight.

He made his full debut for Bolton at Turf Moor on the opening day of the 2012/13 season, kicking off the new season exactly where he'd started the previous one, but it was only when Dougie Freedman arrived as manager that he started to score a few goals.

As Freedman opted to rebuild last summer he was very much out of favour and spent the entire 2013/14 season at Charlton on loan. It was very much a stop/start season for him, because of a hamstring problem, but in April he scored the crucial third goal in a 3-2 home win against Yeovil and then scored all three as they won by the same score at Sheffield Wednesday on Easter Monday, this after they'd gone 2-0 behind after just eight minutes.

Speculation surrounding Derby pair Richard Keogh and Craig Bryson continues as does that with West Brom's Craig Dawson, a deal that might just have become easier with their capture of Joleon Lescott, with even suggestions this week that former loan striker David Nugent might be a target. My understanding is that there is definitely some interest in some of those players but, as yet, no firm offers have been made.

As a Premier League club we can expect to be linked with players here there and everywhere but I have to say some of the others I've read  of in the last week were a bit of a surprise.

Maybe not so much Man City's Emyr Huws. It's not the first time we've been linked this summer with a loan move for him although latest indications are that he could return to Birmingham where he notched his first league goal last season in the 3-3 draw against us.

But I was somewhat surprised to see us linked with Algerian Madjid Bougherra. The former Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton defender is apparently keen to return to England and our name has been thrown into the hat as have the names of a collection of other players currently plying their trade outside of England.

One intriguing link was with Preston's Chris Humphrey. The 26-year-old Jamaican was playing superior football at Deepdale last season after signing from Motherwell. He went on to start 30 league games for the North Enders in a season that ended with defeat in the League One play-offs.

Whilst there is speculation of players coming in, something that will certainly continue, we've even had two German clubs linked with Danny Ings. Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are supposedly keen and I received information on Saturday evening telling me he had flown to Germany for talks.

They must have moved Germany because yesterday afternoon Danny was sat in the Lancashire sun taking in the Lancashire League cricket match between Accrington and Enfield.

Finally, this morning, a Bournemouth link with Junior Stanislas. It's in the Bournemouth Echo so that suggests there is some mileage in Eddie Howe wanting to sign the player who he brought to Turf Moor three years ago.

Whether the player would be keen on giving up an opportunity to play more Premier League football we'll have to wait and see. He's been offered a new deal by the Clarets and was certainly expected to sign it.

Maybe by this time next week we'll know more. New players might well have arrived and others might have left. Some, if not all, of Luke O'Neill, Michael Duff and Stanislas will have signed their new deals.

By then our players will be just about ready to return for pre-season training and the build up for the first game against Chelsea.