Unfortunately Watford have very much become a selling club in recent seasons. Where many teams, especially in the top two divisions of English football, consistently make a big “loss” on player trading, Watford have been making an overall gain. This is to say that rather than having a genuine net spend, where outbound transfer fees have exceeded the amounts raised through sales, the Hornets have been making money by selling players.
The most striking example of this came in the 2022/23 campaign. Watford essentially made a profit of £40m that season, which is all well and good for the bean counters behind the scenes, but not quite so encouraging for the fans, who want to see new players, fresh, exciting talent on the pitch, reflecting ambition off it. Indeed, the last time the club genuinely splashed some cash was 12 months earlier, during the 2021/22 campaign, and even then the net spend was modest, at around £29m.
In this article, we take a look back at some of the big player sales the club have made in recent years, including all of the biggest transfer fees they have brought in. Before we get into the essence of the matter, however, we should point out that all fees are “to the best of our knowledge”. Increasingly fees are officially “undisclosed”, whilst many carry various clauses in terms of add-ons and payment structure. With exchange rates sometimes complicating matters further, it is not always easy to agree on the exact value of a sale and different sources often quote different amounts.
Controversial Richarlison Departure Tops the List
To say that the move of Brazilian attacker, Richarlison, to Everton was controversial would be putting it mildly. The Hornets made a very healthy amount with him in a short period of time but they were not necessarily keen to let him go. He was brought in during the summer of 2017 for a fee of around £11m at the age of 20. He played every game of the 2017/18 campaign and established himself as a fan favourite.
He only scored five goals but was often used on the left side of a front three and given he was new to English football, and indeed England, it was a very decent return from such a young player. He had a little bit of everything, with pace, skill, trickery and finishing, as well as a big heart, lots of energy and fight, and good ability in the air.
Watford finished a respectable 14th in the Premier League that season and were not looking to sell, especially not to Everton. There was a lot of animosity between the clubs after the Merseysiders had poached Watford boss Marco Silva, now thriving at Fulham. Silva joined Watford in May 2017 and after leading the club to a strong start, by November the Toffees were circling.
The Hornets hierarchy repeatedly rebuffed Everton’s advances but it was clear that the uncertainty surrounding him was unsettling the players and affecting performances. Silva was dismissed in January of the next year due to poor results, Watford claiming that this was due to an “unwarranted approach by a Premier League rival”. Everton appointed Silva in May, having previously paid the Hornets around £4m in compensation for their unfair overtures.
When Silva came in for his former charge it poured petrol on the flames and the board and fans really wanted to resist the move. However, football being football, money and player power prevailed, and the Brazilian moved north. The fee was £35m initially for the then-21-year-old but add-ons were said to have the potential to take that figure to £50m. Either way, Richarlison remains Watford’s most valuable sale.
Joao Pedro Moves to Brighton
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) August 24, 2024
The second-most lucrative player sale is far more recent, with Joao Pedro joining Brighton on the 5th of May, 2023 for an undisclosed fee of a little under £30m. Like Richarlison, Pedro is now a full Brazil international, and having only turned 23 very recently, he has a bright future. Sadly, one away from Vicarage Road.
The Hornets bought him from Rio side Fluminese in 2020 for around £10m, so again have made a healthy sum. He made his debut for Brazil in November 2023 after impressing for his new club and he bagged 20 goals from 40 games in his first season on the south coast. He has continued that form into the 2024/25 campaign and looks like he could be a really top-class player, with the £30m Watford received already starting to look a little light.
In all, Pedro played 109 games for Watford, scoring 24 times, including three from 28 in the Premier League. In his final campaign with the club he notched 11 goals in 35 games and considering his young age and the struggles the Hornets have had, it is easy to see why these numbers encouraged Brighton to sign him.
Odio Ighalo’s China Move Lucrative for Club
Nigerian striker, Ighalo, scored 40 times for Watford over two and a half seasons. That return was impressive from 100 games, with 20 goals from 38 games when the club were in the second tier, then 17 from 42 (15 from 37 in the league) after they got promoted to the PL. The Chinese football boom seems a long time ago now and has very much been eclipsed by Saudi Arabia, but at the time many Chinese clubs were splashing the cash and when Changchun Yatai came in for the striker, Watford couldn’t really refuse.
He moved to China on the 31st of January, 2017 for a fee of £20m and despite impressing, with 20 goals, his side were relegated. He then moved to Shanghai side Shenhua, claiming he had turned down a move to Barcelona. Via a loan spell with Man United, he moved to Saudi in 2020 and is now with his third side in the SPL, Al-Wehda.
Other Big-Money Sales
Over the years, albeit mostly in fairly recent ones, Watford have sold a number of players for a considerable sum. Here are the players that flesh out the top 10.
- Abdoulaye Doucouré – £20m to Everton
- Yaser Asprilla – £20m to Girona
- Dode Lukebakio – £18m to Hertha Berlin
- Hassane Kamara – £17.5m to Udinese
- Gerard Deulofeu – £16m to Udinese
- Pervis Estupinan – £15m to Villarreal
- Emmanuel Dennis – £12m to Nottingham Forest
