After failing to hold on to their place in the Premier League last season, Watford will be a Championship club once again when the new EFL season begins in just over one month's time.

The Hornets have spent decent money on individuals in years gone by, but a change in approach by bringing in Forest Green Rovers head coach Rob Edwards could see a switch-up in terms of transfer business as well.

There's currently a lot of foreign, non-home grown talent on the books at Vicarage Road, and we've already seen the first player depart in Cucho Hernandez to Columbus Crew this week - Philip Zinckernagel looks set to follow him out of the door to Olympiakos.

They won't be the only two, with Ismaila Sarr and Emmanuel Dennis likely to depart, as well as a whole host of other faces that will probably not be around when the new season begins against Sheffield United on July 30.

 

 

 

 

One perhaps surprise deal that is set to happen is Daniel Bachmann - who spent the majority of last season as back-up to Ben Foster - heading to the giants of Manchester United as a back-up goalkeeper.

Watford are set to receive around £4 million for the Austrian if the deal is completed, and that opens up a slot in-between the sticks under Edwards.

With Ben Foster released this summer, it leaves the experienced Rob Elliott, 23-year-old Swede Pontus Dahlberg - who hasn't exactly impressed in League One on loan at Doncaster Rovers and Gillingham, and January recruit Maduka Okoye, who arrives from Sparta Rotterdam with 19 Nigeria caps to his name and could potentially be the first-choice next season.

We don't know what Edwards' thought process is though regarding the goalkeeping situation, and whilst that remains, the Hornets could do worse than enter the race for Leicester City stopper Daniel Iversen.

The towering Dane looks set to be available for yet another loan move from the Foxes due to Kasper Schmeichel and Danny Ward being in-front of him, even though he's shown more-than enough to suggest he's ready for a crack at the Premier League.

His recent season-and-a-half spell at Preston North End has been incredibly impressive, so much so that he won the Lilywhites' Player of the Year award for the 2021-22 season.

It looks as though they have moved on from Iversen though due to Freddie Woodman's permanent arrival, but Middlesbrough and Sunderland - Watford's new league rivals - have reportedly signalled their intent to sign the 24-year-old.

Iversen's Championship stats - supplied by Wyscout - read very favourably for the 2021-22 campaign, making a total of 132 saves, which averages out at 2.87 per match, and in terms of saves using his reflexes, they accounted for 72 of the stops he made, averaging out at 1.56 per game, just showing how impressive the Dane’s reactions were.

And despite the fact that he may not appear to be as good as others with the ball at his feet, especially when pressured by the opposition, Iversen has a decent long passing record for 2021-22, attempting 492 over the course of the campaign, which averages out at 10.7 per match.

Of those 492, 336 of them were accurate ones, working out at 7.3 accurate long passes per game, so depending on what Edwards wants from a goalkeeper, they are standard-enough figures.

Wherever he goes, Iversen would be a fantastic addition to a Championship club - and Watford should join that race if they can guarantee him first-team football.