Premier League, although has been thoroughly dominated by Manchester City, is approaching towards its conclusion every weekend and there are lots to play for in ‘top four’ chase as well as the highly intriguing relegation battle. Teams, however, are also keeping close tabs on preferred transfer options and plotting a swoop for the next campaign when the transfer window reopens in summer.
Money is dominating the modern football and the minnows of English football are now competing alongside the big guns to clinch high-profile deals. As per latest reports, Watford are keen on bringing in Benfica star Bryan Cristante who has caught the eyes of many ( including Liverpool and Arsenal) following the scintillating loan campaign for the Serie A side Atalanta.
The 23-year-old Azzurri international flourished through the academy ranks of A.C. Milan but struggled to break into the senior side and completed a €4.84 mil summer transfer to the Portuguese Champions back in 2014. There he was handed a sporadic role during his first season but later sent on loan to have regular game time elsewhere. Following two unsuccessful loan spells with Palermo and Pescara, Cristante is finally living up to the expectations this season and has already netted 10 times for the Serie A outfit across all competitions.
The former Italy youth international finally received a senior call-up last year and made a substitute appearance against Macedonia which ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw at home. Italy surprisingly have not qualified for the upcoming FIFA World Cup competition but their future lies in such promising prodigies who are immensely talented and earning attention from abroad.
Watford have registered themselves as a promising Premier League outfit since their promotion back in 2015. The Hornets had an impressive inception this term under Marco Silva but a series of dismal outcomes resulted in a dismissal and the Portuguese tactician has now been succeeded by Spaniard Javi Garcia who has regained the momentum and brought them back inside the top half of the league tally.
The Hertfordshire outfit are one of Premier League’s surprise spenders who have been massively active in the previous transfer windows and are not put off by a £27 mil asking fee for the decorated midfield sensation. They already have the likes of Abdoulaye Doucouré, Etienne Capoue, Will Hughes, Nathaniel Chalobah and Tom Cleverly as the central midfield options, but the presence of the Italian is likely to bring in versatility and creativity in the middle of the park due to his ability to fit in a box-to-box role, holding midfield slot and also as a midfield attacker who will bring in more goals to their game.
Watford, however, are quite unlikely to have a free pass to acquire his services even if Liverpool and Arsenal, both the English giants, cool their interests in coming days. Cristante is also being monitored by West Ham United who are hopeful of tying him down and believe the luxury of ‘London life’ will lure him in. But all these speculations are still at an early stage and we have to wait for a few more months to have a conclusion of this transfer saga.
