Last summer, one of the areas Marco Silva was trying to bolster at Watford was the left-back position.
Prior to the arrival of Martin Zeegelaar from Sporting CP, the club only really had José Holebas as a natural in the role, and that was a worry for the Hornets.
The Dutch defender arrived very late on for a modest fee of around £2.7m and has made 13 appearances in all competitions so far this season with Javi Gracia counting on him a fair bit since his arrival as Silva’s replacement.
However, if Le Soir are to be believed, Zeegelaar certainly wasn’t Watford’s first option for the role, as the Premier League side tried to sign Nurio Fortuna from RSC Charleroi just a month or so after his arrival at the Belgian side.
Signed from Braga’s B team after a year on loan in Cyprus for just under £500k, the young Portuguese defender was thrown straight into the first-team and impressed so much in his first few games that the Hornets allegedly came along and offered €5m for his services.
According to the Belgian outlet, Charleroi felt they had something of a gem on their hands and turned down the opportunity of making a quick profit, instead preferring to hold onto him to sell him for more in the future.
The problem is, that appears to have backfired, as Fortuna’s performances have since dropped, and the 22-year-old has found himself on the bench more often than not recently, failing to grasp the few opportunities thrown his way by his manager.
Perhaps Watford unknowingly dodged a bullet there?
