Watford head coach Marco Silva has previewed this weekend’s clash with Leicester City and given an update on our business in the January transfer window.
Heading to the King Power Stadium this weekend to face off against Claude Puel’s side, Silva admitted that he needed to assess Tom Cleverley late on ahead of the game as he’s currently a doubt for us.
Silva confirmed that Cleverley had asked to be substituted ahead of the half time break in our last match as he felt tightness in his hamstring, and as the club have assessed him since then he has been held back from training and has until the end of Friday to prove his fitness for the match.
‘He felt a minor problem, a small injury in the last match. He is still in doubt, a doubt for the next game. We have one more session tomorrow and we`ll see how his physical condition is and then I’ll take a decision. It’s a small injury in his hamstring, nothing special.’
Following on from the Southampton match, Silva said we had a clean bill of health and no fresh injury worries.
‘Nothing more after the last match. The list of injured players everybody knows. Some of them are improving but they are not ready yet. We still have a similar situation with Chalobah, Will Hughes, Kiko, Kaboul and Britos and we`ll see when they are ready. We are doing our best to put them in a good condition.’
Isaac Success has been back in training all week and Craig Cathcart joins him as being the closest to a return to contention.
‘Isaac, we will try to do our best to put him into a good fitness. Cathcart has been training with us but he had a small problem, not the same knee. Nothing special.’
Talking about the transfer window, Silva told the Official Site that the club were doing ‘what we can’ to strengthen but it’s proven difficult so far.
‘Every day I speak with Filippo (Giraldo – Technical Director), sometimes with the owner. We are doing what we can do. It’s not an easy market but as a club we are working to do what we can. It’s not an easy market as some teams have big power – others not so much. It’s important to understand the market and do the best we can. The market is still open, open until January 31.’
Silva also confirmed that he’d received a promise that Abdoulaye Doucoure and Richarlison wouldn’t be sold this month given the speculation about them in the media.
‘What I can tell you is feedback I have from our board that of the most important players nobody will be leaving this month. This is the feedback I have the last two months. With all the injuries it doesn`t make sense if you sell some players. I hope to improve our roster – not sell our most important players.’
