Belgian forward Obbi Oularé has told Het Laatste Nieuws that he no regrets over joining Watford despite struggling to impress during his time at Vicarage Road.
The 27-year-old spent a year at Standard Liège’s academy before becoming part of Club Brugge’s youth system in 2013. He impressed for the latter and that helped him make his way into their first team a year later.
His displays for the Jupiler Pro League side convinced Watford to invest in his services in 2015.
Oularé finished his debut season with the Hornets with only three appearances as he was overlooked by their then manager, Quique Sánchez Flores.
Watford sent him out on loan to Zulte Waregem, Willem II, Royal Antwerp and Standard Liège for three years, before they sold him to the latter in 2019. The attacker has struggled with fitness and HLN points out that he has missed 701 days due to injuries.
“I broke through at Club Brugge, the best team in Belgium. The press wrote pages full of all the clubs that were supposedly interested in me. It was about money, a lot of money. Then it’s not easy to make the right choice at that moment, at that age.”
According to HLN, the Belgian made only 13 starts for the first team before Watford paid €8m for his signature.
On his move to Watford, Oularé explained: “I should have been more patient. Stay one or two more years. But I’m not going to say that I regret my choice either. What if I had been given opportunities at Watford and had broken through in England?
“But in retrospect I would approach it differently. I would think more about the transfers I would make. About my entourage and people I surround myself with. I was young. I trusted people quickly, sometimes too quickly. Unfortunately, football is not a world in which you are allowed to do that.”
Oularé returned to Belgium when he joined second division side Lierse Kempenzonen in the last window.
