Watford boss Walter Mazzarri insists striker Odion Ighalo WILL be on the team bus on Friday as the Hornets travel to Bournemouth.
The 27 year-old was linked with a move to West Brom on Thursday in what Is understood to be a fee of around £20 million.
under Quique Sanchez Flores last season but has struggled to recapture his best form in Mazzarri’s side this term.
He has only scored twice this season in all competitions – after notching 17 last term – while the Hornets have struggled for consistency in both their starting line-up and their general Premier League form.
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The Nigerian international joined the Hornets on a free transfer from Udinese in 2014 and has scored 39 goals in over 98 appearances. Twenty of those goals helped power Watford to promotion from the Championship to the top-flight in his first season and in 2015 he was English football’s leading scorer with 30 goals.
He signed a new deal with the club last summer having been a £37.5 million target from Chinese outfit Shanghai SIPG with the Baggies also trying to sign him in a player-plus-cash exchange involving Saido Berahino only for that deal to fall through.
The Hornets also turned down a £35million deadline day bid last January from Manchester United – the club Ighalo supported as a boy.
But there is a growing sense at Vicarage Road that a fresh start would suit all parties. Watford’s ruling Pozzo dynasty have also based their business model on scouring the globe for rough diamonds and sel
However on Thursday night Mazzarri played down talk of an immediate deal claiming that Ighalo would travel to the South Coast with the team as they prepare to face Bournemouth in the Premier League this Saturday.
He said ” At the moment he will travel with the team. When we have a game like this against Bournemouth I don’t want the transfer market to distract my players. They have to be focused on the colour of the Watford shirt.”
