No new signings but no sign of selling crown jewels is a positive
With no more new signings and nothing apparently imminent, Tom Cleverley is just pleased the club is not showing any signs of selling its shiniest trinkets.
The likes of Giorgi Chakvetadze are bound to attract attention, Kwadwo Baah too until his injury this week, but without reinforcements arriving the Watford head coach is taking solace from not losing anyone.
“There are no incomings that I can report today and as I said in the week my job is to focus on the players that are in the building,” he said.
“What I would say is there are no conversations about us losing our best players, and at this moment in time that is a clear positive.
“We have some real assets in our team – clubs could be linked with them and there could be mumblings about them leaving, but now there isn’t and I see that as a real positive.
“Every manager is going to say they’d like to improve their squad but it’s not as easy as that.
“After the injuries we probably need a couple to bolster the depth, and I’m happy to keep hold of our best players.”
A table of spending since the summer window opened shows Watford bottom of the list, but the release of the club’s accounts went some way to explaining that.
“We’re not the only ones in that position,” admitted Cleverley.
“I’m no financial expert of Championship football clubs, but I’d imagine a lot of them are losing money.
“My job is to improve what we have in the building.
“Can I identify areas we can strengthen? Yes. Can I help with that? Absolutely.
“But ultimately I have to improve, and get results with, what we have.
“If we can keep our best players in the January window I see that as a positive.”
While money may be tight and budgets reduced, the head coach believes there is still capacity for signings.
“I am sure we have wriggle room to strengthen the depth of the squad especially after the injuries,” he said.
“I’ve said before that in this window I have to concentrate on the team more than in the summer.
“I had the luxury of no league games in June and July, so I could have real input.
“In this window I have a lot of games to focus on with my team, so I’m leaving this one up to Gian Luca, Scott and the owner.
“My focus is on the team.”
