BREAKING: Long standing target joins Watford for whopping club record fee – big mistake or bullet dodged?

Some breaking news in the past few moments as Watford have confirmed the £18.5 million club record signing of long standing Newcastle United target Andre Gray , who’s signed a 5-year deal from Burnley with Marco Silva’s side.

Gray had long been mentioned as one of our leading striker targets this summer, with the club being fully aware that the promising 26-year old had just 12 months left of his Burnley contract.

For a player who scored  9 goals last season who is entering the final year of his contract, I found it unlikely that a team would match Burnley’s reported asking price (reported to be in the region of £20m), however Watford have stumped up a whopping £18.5m offer which was clearly deemed acceptable by Burnley.

He has pace, is at a good age, with room to improve and an eye for goal, but I would like to think the likes of Lucas Perez at £13.4m or Wilfried Bony at the alleged asking price of £13m represent greater value for money and players with a superior track records.

Yes wages will not be cheap for the aforementioned pair, but given Gray was believed to be demanding huge sums of money to stay at Burnley, he will be likely to be receiving a big pay packet at Watford.

It’s not my money – so I don’t care how much we have to spend to get the necessary quality onboard – however we are having to juggle our finances to get the 3 or 4 additions we require over the coming weeks, and spending £18.5m of it on Gray would’ve left a big hole in that budget.

A good player and one who could’ve done well at Newcastle, but perhaps one who we were right to ignore at that price.

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About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

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