Watford set to sign Barcelona attacker Deulofeu

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Bengaluru, June 7: Watford are reportedly closing-in on the £10million signing of Gerard Deulofeu from Barcelona.

The 24-year-old former Everton winger spent the second half of last season on loan at Vicarage Road and did a pretty decent job. As per the Spanish media, the Hornets are on the verge of turning that into a permanent deal.

Deulofeu has miserably failed to impress in two separate spells at Barcelona, the boyhood club of the winger. The Spaniard has made just 10 appearances for the La Liga side and struggled to make an impact after he returned at Camp Nou from Everton a year ago.

Last month, he admitted he had given up on becoming a member of the first-team at Barcelona and appeared to confirm Watford’s interest in him.

Deulofeu told the media, “I do not think I will return to Barca. They gave me up and I wanted to go on loan. It's clear that I do not think I'll come back.

“The (Watford) coach wants me to stay. I have to see, go slowly and analyse it well this summer. We will see with my agent what happens. We are in a quiet moment.”

The 24-year-old started his career with Barcelona, first appearing with the first team at the age of 17, and was loaned to Everton and Sevilla before joining the former on a permanent deal in the summer of 2015. After a successful loan spell at Italian side Milan, he was brought back to Barcelona in June 2017.

He was also a Spanish youth international, having represented the country over 80 times at under-16, under-17, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels, being named the UEFA Under-19 Championship Golden Player in 2012. In 2014, he made his debut for the Spain senior team.

A quick and skilful player, gifted with pace, good technique and dribbling ability, Deulofeu is capable of playing as a winger or as a forward on either flank. He is more of a direct player which is one of the many reasons why he failed at Barcelona but did pretty well in the Premier League. However, he still needs to find the key to consistency as that is something which is letting him down big time.