As far as star players go in the Championship this season, there are certainly a lot of names to pick from from different clubs that could go back to the Premier League - or there for the first time - and perform very well.

One of those is Watford winger Ismaila Sarr - and there's potentially a case to be made that he's not even the best player in his team.

Joao Pedro is perhaps eclipsing him in the 2022-23 season and he is fully living up to his potential, but Sarr has already had two seasons in the Premier League with the Hornets and has courted transfer interest from some of the biggest clubs in the world.

It was a big surprise at the end of the summer transfer window when after weeks and weeks of speculation and links with other clubs, Sarr was still on the books of Watford in what was a statement to the rest of the division that they mean business.

Before heading to the FIFA World Cup with Senegal, Sarr had netted six goals and four assists for the Hornets and he used the biggest international tournament in the world as a platform to prove himself, scoring a penalty in a 2-1 group stage victory over Ecuador.

Sarr has already returned to Watford action in the lead up to the January transfer window, with a revelation coming out this week that could really impact whether he moves on next month or not from Vicarage Road.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, the 24-year-old's price-tag has now gone up to around the £45 million mark, which is extraordinarily steep for a current Championship player.

Sarr was rated around the £25 million mark when the likes of Aston Villa and Crystal Palace were interested in him back in the summer, but even they couldn't get a deal done for that price.

Now that the asking price has shot up significantly, it seems incredibly unlikely that any club will come in for him whatsoever next month, and that would mean Watford's exciting front-line remains in place under Slaven Bilic until at least the end of the season.

But could they risk making Sarr unhappy with the price increase?

Sarr has never kicked up a fuss when it comes to potential exits from Watford, but with his contract expiring in 2024, Watford are running out of time to potentially get money for the winger if he does want to leave at some point - increasing the price tag by as much as they have done is not going to attract the suitors to Vicarage Road in January, but perhaps that is the point...