{"id":596559,"date":"2021-07-19T15:34:16","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=596559"},"modified":"2021-07-19T15:34:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:34:16","slug":"andre-gray-watford-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/07\/19\/andre-gray-watford-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Andre Gray Does Not Have a Watford Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Premier League season set to kick off in less than one month, clubs are continuing to scramble to create their ideal squads. Watford’s<\/a> transfer tactic has primarily consisted of buying first and offloading players second, but several departures are imminent. One such player who may find themselves exiting Vicarage Road is former record-signing Andre Gray.<\/p>\n

Andre Gray Has an Unclear Watford Future<\/h2>\n

Underwhelmed Since Arrival<\/h3>\n

A prolific 2014\/15 season with Brentford<\/a> earned Gray a transfer to Burnley<\/a> for the following season. In the second tier, during that campaign, he won the Golden Boot with 25 goals and the Championship Player of the Year award. Gray’s nine-goal Premier League season the following year earned him an \u00a318.5 million move to Watford.<\/p>\n

His first season at Vicarage Road was underwhelming, scoring just five times in 31 appearances. The 2018\/19 season was his most successful in a Hornets’ shirt. Seven Premier League goals, with multiple being off-the-bench winners, two FA Cup goals – one sending Watford to the semi-finals – and an FA Cup semi-final assist made \u00a0the fee Watford paid for him seem closer to justifiable.<\/p>\n

With Troy Deeney sidelined due to knee surgery for the start of the 2019\/20 campaign, Gray was in line to play a big role. In 23 appearances, however, he scored just twice. The club’s relegation to the Championship meant there were high hopes for the 30-year-old, who had been the league’s most prolific scorer five seasons prior. Unfortunately, Gray only scored five goals in 30 appearances.<\/p>\n

New Signings Suggest Andre Gray Has Lost His Spot<\/h3>\n

Even though Gray has had his moments of quality, primarily during the 2018\/19 season, the club have not received the prolific striker they wanted from spending \u00a318.5 million. Upon their return to the Premier League, the Hornets have wasted no time in signing a plethora of attacking talent.<\/p>\n

Joshua King<\/a>, Ashley Fletcher and Emmanuel Dennis<\/a> are all new signings who have primarily played in attacking roles. King is a proven Premier League goal-scorer; Dennis has the potential to be based on his impressive time in Belgium, while Fletcher was brought in to freshen up the Hornets’ depth, a category Gray himself has fallen into. Cucho Hernandez also has returned<\/a> from loan and is training with the first-team.<\/p>\n

With Joao Pedro and Deeney also set to be at Vicarage Road next season, Gray finds himself as potentially the club’s seventh-choice striker. As a result, Gray staying at Vicarage Road now appears to make little sense. After\u00a0the new signings, his place in the squad is very likely occupied and surpassed by many others.<\/p>\n

Absent From Pre-season Training<\/h3>\n

Gray is currently partaking in the CONCACAF Gold Cup with Jamaica. The tournament ends on August 1, meaning he will have missed nearly the entirety of pre-season. The new legs will be freshly introduced and integrated into Xisco Munoz’s system by the time the 30-year-old returns.<\/p>\n

With so many new heads, the stars have aligned for Gray to try and reignite his career elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>