Hamer and Livermore released, new Ngakia contract confirmed

Watford have released Jake Livermore, Ben Hamer and Ashley Fletcher, and confirmed that Jeremy Ngakia has signed a new contract.

All clubs in the Championship – except those involved in the play-offs – had a deadline of Saturday May 18 to lodge their list of retained and released players, as well as those who had been offered a new deal but had not, at that point, signed.

Ngakia had been a puzzling situation for some months, as rumours abounded at the start of the year that he had signed a new deal, but the club did not confirm or deny.

When the FA released details of all agent transactions at each club recently, it showed Ngakia had agreed a new contract, but the club remained tight-lipped.

However, the Hornets have now confirmed that the 23-year-old who has made 74 appearances since joining from West Ham in August 2020 has signed a deal that runs until summer 2027, with the option of a further year retained by the club.

Watford have decided to allow both Livermore and Hamer, two of their most experienced players, to leave.

Livermore made 32 appearances after joining last summer from West Brom. The England international didn’t feature a great deal early on, but his arrival in the team as a regular starter from early October coincided with Watford’s best run of form of the season.

The Hornets lost only one of 12 games with Livermore in the team between October 7 and December 23, and he scored two memorable goals in a 2-1 away win at QPR in January.

He only played a total of six minutes under Tom Cleverley, however.

Hamer moved to Watford from Swansea in summer 2022, and in his first season he made just one appearance in a 2-2 draw away at Coventry when Dan Bachmann was suspended.

Last season the highly-experienced stopper was far more involved, making a total of 21 appearances.

He was between the posts for 18 consecutive Championship games between November 28 and March 2, memorably saving a penalty in the 2-1 win at Hull and then keeping the Hornets in the game during the first half at Preston before they went on to romp to a 5-1 win.

The Fletcher signing was one of the most baffling, and unsuccessful, of recent times.

The 28-year-old striker joined Watford from Middlesbrough in summer 2021, but has made just six appearances since and the most recent of those was a 4-1 FA Cup defeat at Leicester in January 2022.

Fletcher has had loan spells at New York Red Bulls, Wigan and Sheffield Wednesday while at Vicarage Road, but scored just two goals in a combined 63 outings for that trio of clubs.

The deadline for Championship clubs to submit retained lists to the EFL passed on Saturday, and so far nearly all have chosen to share those lists publicly.

Leicester and Ipswich don’t need to as they are now Premier League clubs, Southampton and Leeds are still waiting to find out which division they are in, and although deadline didn’t apply to Norwich and West Brom because of their participation in the play-offs they have anyway.

Two of the teams relegated from the Premier League, Burnley and Sheffield United, have published details of their retained and released players, as have Derby County and Portsmouth, who were promoted out of League One.

So, of the 24 teams in the Championship last season, the three teams coming down and the three coming up, 23 have shared details of released players and those offered new contracts.

It’s understood the Hornets did have an option to buy Jamal Lewis at the end of his season-long loan but that has not been exercised.

There are a few names on the lists shared by other clubs that will be familiar to Watford fans.

Striker Andi Weimann had two spells on loan at Vicarage Road in 2011 and made 22 appearances, scoring four goals.

He went on to play more than 200 times for Bristol City and, after spending the end of the season on loan at West Brom, 32-year-old Weimann has now been released by the Robins.

Andi Weimann spent the end of the season on loan at West Brom from Bristol City, who have now released him. (Image: PA)

A name that has become synonymous with a particular piece of commentary, Jonathan Hogg could be about to end his 11-year stay with relegated Huddersfield Town.

The 35-year-old midfielder made 83 appearances for Watford between 2011 and 2013, but has yet to sign the new deal offered to him by the Terriers.

Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League has seen them release midfielder Jack Cork, who made 21 appearances for Watford while on loan from Chelsea in the second half of the 2008/09 season.

Goalkeeper Scott Loach has been released by Derby County after they were promoted to the Championship.

The 35-year-old was at Vicarage Road from 2006 to 2012, and made 163 appearances for the Hornets.

Nathaniel Chalobah, who made 127 appearances and scored nine times for Watford in an initial loan spell from Chelsea and then between 2017 and 2021, has been released at West Brom.

Below are details shared by clubs so far. Those marked with an asterisk have been offered new deals by their clubs but are yet to sign meaning, as things stand, they will become free agents on July 1.

Scott Loach, who made 163 appearances for Watford, has been released by newly-promoted Derby. (Image: PA)

Birmingham City: Neil Etheridge, Gary Gardner, Scott Hogan, Marc Roberts, Ivan Sunjic, Lukas Jutkiewicz*, John Ruddy*

Blackburn Rovers: Sam Barnes, Lenni Cirino, Ben Fyles, Jay Haddow, Jared Harlock, Ethan Walker, Charlie Weston, Kyle McFadzean*, John Fleck*

Bristol City: Matty James, Andy King, Andreas Weimann, Joe Williams*

Coventry City: Simon Moore, Liam Kelly, Callum O’Hare*

Huddersfield Town : Jordan Rhodes, Yuta Nakayama, Connor Mahoney, Aaron Rowe, Brahima Diarra, Jonathan Hogg*

Hull City: Greg Docherty, Billy Sharp, Vaughn Covil, Aaron Connolly, Adama Traoré, Cyrus Christie, David Robson

Middlesbrough: Paddy McNair, Liam Roberts, Jamie Jones*

Millwall: Shaun Hutchinson, Bartosz Bialkowski

Norwich: Danny Batth, Ben Gibson, Dimitris Giannoulis, Sam McCallum, Jon McCracken, Ken Aboh*

Plymouth: Callum Burton, Oscar Halls, Jack Endacott, Mickel Miller*, Brendan Galloway*, Will Jenkins Davies*

Preston: Greg Cunningham, Ben Woodburn, Alan Browne*, Ched Evans*

QPR: Andre Dozzell, Aaron Drewe, Ossie Kakay, Albert Adomah, Stephen Duke-McKenna, Jordan Archer

Rotherham United : Cafu, Curtis Durose, Grant Hall, Joel Holvey, Lee Peltier, Nat Ford, Sam Clucas, Sean Morrison, Shane Ferguson, Tolaji Bola, Tyler Blackett, Jamie Lindsay*

Sheffield Wednesday: Tyreeq Bakinson, George Byers, Juan Delgado, Reece James, Ciaran Brennan, Lee Gregory, Barry Bannan*, Cameron Dawson*, Di’Shon Bernard*, Dominic Iorfa*, Liam Palmer*, Will Vaulks*, Josh Windass*

Stoke City: Tyrese Campbell, Ciaran Clark, Wesley, Enda Stevens*

Sunderland: Corry Evans, Ellis Taylor, Jack Diamond, Bradley Dack, Cuba Mitchell*, Daniel Cameron*, Henry Fieldson*, Jenson Jones*, Luke Bell*, Tom Lavery*

Swansea City: Liam Walsh, Przemyslaw Placheta, Jamie Patterson*, Richard Faakye*

Watford: Ben Hamer, Jake Livermore, Ashley Fletcher

West Brom: Matty Phillips, Adam Reach, Nathaniel Chalobah, Erik Pieters, Yann M’Vila, Martin Kelly, Jovan Malcolm, Jamie Andrews, Bradley Foster, Aaron Harper-Bailey, Narel Phillips, Ruben Shakpoke, Cheick Kone, Jenson Sumnall, Kyle Bartley*, Cedric Kipre*, Alex Mowatt*, Reyes Cleary*, Ethan Ingram*, Ted Cann*, Fenton Heard*, Evan Humphries*, Archie Kirton*, Deago Nelson*, Adriel Walker*

Former Watford loanee Jack Cork has been released by Burnley. (Image: PA)

Sheffield United (relegated from Premier League): Chris Basham, George Baldock, Oliver Norwood, Wes Foderingham, Max Lowe

Derby County (promoted from League One): Dwight Gayle, Scott Loach, Korey Smith, Martyn Waghorn, Joe Wildsmith, Conor Hourihane, James Collins*, Louie Sibley*

Portsmouth (promoted from League One): Sean Raggett, Joe Rafferty, Matt Macey, Lee Evans, Josh Martin, Ryan Schofield, Haji Mnoga, Harry Jewitt-White, Liam Vincent, Josh Dockerill, Marlon Pack*, Connor Ogilvie*