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Completely frozen out at Watford by Walter Mazzarri, Juan Carlos Paredes might not be playing for his club on a regular basis, but that hasn’t stopped him from making appearances for his country.

With 68 caps already to his name for Ecuador, the 29-year-old has only made one appearance for the Hornets so far this season, in an extra-time loss to Gillingham in the EFL Cup.

This has led to speculation Paredes could be looking for a way out in January, unlikely to be inserted in Watford’s Premier League squad for the second half of the season either, but that doesn’t bother Ecuador’s manager Gustavo Quinteros.

Speaking in a press conference about his squad choices, relayed by CRE Satelital, the manager justified his decision to pick the Watford man on a regular basis.

He said: “Regarding Juan Carlos Paredes, if I remember correctly, I’m Ecuador’s manager, and there’s no better player than him at this moment in time. A lot of people don’t know, Juan Carlos isn’t playing for the first team at Watford, but playing a lot for their reserves.

“He gives me the videos of the games, because we can’t get hold of them easily. I see him play, I analyse him, I see him in training, and I see that he’s at a similar or even higher level to the other players I have in his position.”

The right-back was bought by Watford from Granada back in 2014, and enjoyed regular football in the Championship before seeing his time on the field drop a bit following Premier League promotion under Quique Sanchez Flores.

As for his time under Walter Mazzarri, it seems Paredes will want to forget that altogether.