Watford will turn their attention to signing Nathaniel Chalobah, following their double capture of Kiko Femenia and Daniel Bachmann.
Marco Silva begun his rebuild of the Hornets squad with the £8million capture of Tom Cleverley from Everton earlier this summer, and followed this up by paying a similar fee to Derby County for their England Under-21 international Will Hughes. And it was confirmed on Saturday that Femenia and Bachmann have also been signed, both on free transfer deals.
Former Spain Under-21 international Femenia played 31 times as he helped Alaves to a ninth-place finish in La Liga last season, their highest position for 15 years. The 26-year-old right fullback, who can also operate as a winger, has also played for Hercules, Barcelona B, Real Madrid B and Alcorcon, and he has signed a four-year contract at Vicarage Road.
22-year-old Bachmann has been at Stoke City for the past six years without breaking into their first team, but has got his goalkeeper gloves dirty during loan spells at Wrexham, Ross County and Bury. The Austrian shot-stopper has 16 international caps at under-21 level, and was recently called up to the full national side for their matches against Moldova and Finland.
The recently-appointed Silva will now turn his attention to persuading champions Chelsea to part with Chalobah. The highly-rated midfielder has played just 15 times for the Stamford Bridge club in all competitions, and has had a number of loan spells the first of which came at Watford, when he scored five goals in 42 appearances during the 2012-13 season.
Antonio Conte is understood to be keen to retain the services of Chalobah, who has just one year remaining on his contract, but Sky Sports claim he is now keen to leave the club on a permanent basis to cement regular first team football at a new home. Silva still has cash to spend during the summer transfer window, and is eager to lure the 22-year-old to Vicarage Road.
