Why Watford should reignite their interest in Mateo Musacchio

Watford’s horror season in the Premier League showed no signs of taking a positive turnaround this week, as Wolves registered their first victory of the campaign to inflict a fifth league defeat on the Hornets. 

The Hertfordshire outfit failed able to recover from the ignominy of an 8-0 drubbing at Man City last week and Quique Sanchez Flores’ side hardly made any kind of a positive impression, as Matt Doherty’s opener followed by an own goal from Daryl Janmaat sunk the Hornets yet again.

The fans at Vicarage Road would have expected their team to push on this term and challenge for better things after a wonderful run to the FA Cup final last season, especially with high-profile signings like Danny Welbeck, Craig Dawson and Ismaila Sarr, but they have every reason to be bitterly disappointed with how things have panned out for them so far. 

Three defeats in the opening four games led to the dismissal of Javi Gracia but Watford’s woes have continued to haunt them even after the arrival of Sanchez Flores, with the 8-0 defeat being one of the biggest humiliations that the club has ever faced in their top-flight history. 

Many would have sensed a change of fortunes when Watford came back from 2 goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw against Arsenal in what was the new manager’s first game in charge but things have gone downhill for the Hornets ever since. 

One of the key takeaways from Watford’s nightmarish start to the season has been their porous and vulnerable backline, which has creaked far too often and at an alarming frequency.

Truth be told, the centre-backs have been quite shocking, to say the least, and one would struggle to find the perfect set of adjectives to describe their performances.

Having shipped as many as 59 goals in the previous campaign, the Hornets brought in Dawson as an upgrade on the mediocrity of Christian Kabasele, Adrian Mariappa and Craig Cathcart but, if the first seven games are anything to go by, the former West Brom man has only flattered to deceive with similar ineptitude. 

Watford have already conceded 20 goals in 7 games and they would probably need divine intervention to keep them away from the drop zone should they continue to ship goals for fun. To that end, defensive reinforcements should be a priority for Sanchez Flores when the transfer window reopens in January. 

Interestingly, Watford revisiting their interest in one of their former centre-back targets, Matteo Musacchio, could possibly be the answer to their woes at the back.

The Argentine international, who plies his trade with AC Milan, was linked with a move to Vicarage Road prior to the January window last season but nothing came to fruition back then. (h/t Football London)

It is imperative to say that Watford are in desperate need of a top-quality international centre-back and someone like Mateo Musacchio could be an excellent addition with his wealth of experience in the La Liga and Serie A. 

The 29-year-old former River Plate and Villarreal man, who has been capped on 6 occasions by Argentina at the senior international level, is noted for his good all-round ability as a centre-back. 

The Argentine’s calmness, composure, astute sense of positioning, sound game reading abilities and an impressive range of passing perfectly complements his highly physical nature as a defender and it doesn’t need a professional analyst to figure out that he would be an instant upgrade on Watford’s existing options at the back. 

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Plus, Musacchio is still very much in his prime at the age of 29 and one would expect him to perform at the peak of his powers for at least another three or four seasons, meaning that the Argentine would represent good value for money as far as Watford are concerned. 

Suffice to say, Watford need to turn their fortunes around very soon and they would hardly find a better saviour than Matteo Musacchio.