Watford will not sign as many players 'as people think' says Zola

[magic]

No...his original statement was correct. I was expecting Watford would sign at least 30 new players in the close season!!

In a similar manner we did not sign as many players as I thought - we signed many many more

[cyaninternetdog]

Does the fact that Zola did say this and so many players did arrive mean that he has no control of what players come into the club or does it mean he was offered all these good young players and found it hard to turn them down? I think he has no control of who comes in which is a bit worrying as I think a manager should always have the last word about what players he has in his squad.

[wfc4ever]

I think its pretty clear he hasnpt got control really but then the same happens at a lot of clubs around Europe and teams like Liverpool/Spurs have tried to use the same director of football system...

Just as with a lot of things in football we've not used to that here.

[dynamo380]

Does the fact that Zola did say this and so many players did arrive mean that he has no control of what players come into the club or does it mean he was offered all these good young players and found it hard to turn them down? .

Reading through last fridays observer I didnt realise actually how many of the loans have the option to make the move permanent at the end of the season - especially from the group of players we got on deadline day. Its almost like an extended try before you buy. Zola has always said that if he needed a position strengthening then the Pozzo's could offer a player or two from within the group aswell as any players that Zola wanted outside of Udinese/Granada. Is it not possible that is what has happened recently with all the loanees we've got? We needed a left back and a replacement for Tiny - now we have several players that in those positions for example?

[555ROB]

Reading through last fridays observer I didnt realise actually how many of the loans have the option to make the move permanent at the end of the season - especially from the group of players we got on deadline day. Its almost like an extended try before you buy. Zola has always said that if he needed a position strengthening then the Pozzo's could offer a player or two from within the group aswell as any players that Zola wanted outside of Udinese/Granada. Is it not possible that is what has happened recently with all the loanees we've got? We needed a left back and a replacement for Tiny - now we have several players that in those positions for example?

I agree, I thinks it is a case of try before you buy which ultimately is going to really strengthen the team / squad in the long term.
This could mean that we might have to wait until next season before we have a team who can get us promoted which means a bit of patience is needed right now whilst Zola works out which players he wants to play for him and then those who don't feature in his plans will depart.
A few months ago, Watford were not too far away from going into administration and now we have a decent chance of playing in the Prem within a few years so I think Zola and the Pozzo's should be given our support and enough time to achieve this.
I can't believe that there are already those who are prepared to write them off after only a few games.