For Brice Dja Djédjé, a transfer to Watford from Marseille should have been the next step in his career.
Unfortunately for the Ivory Coast international, it’s been anything but.
Left out of the Hornets’ Premier League registered squad for the second season running, the 26-year-old is now forced to wait around until January in order to get regular first-team football, and even then that’s not a guarantee.
A week or so ago, a report from Sport-Ivoire suggested Marco Silva had taken the decision based on the defender’s preseason effort, or lack thereof, but that’s not quite what happened.
Annoyed at what he read in the press, Dja Djédjé gave an interview to Sportmania in Ivory Coast to clear the air and ensure the truth comes out.
Starting the story all the way back to when Watford paid Marseille €4m for his services, the right-back revealed he arrived at Vicarage with a foot injury, which the Premier League side knew about.
Only meant to return to training in mid-August 2016, Dja Djédjé explained Watford made him return earlier than anticipated, which only made things worse.
He said: “I had to go to countries like Spain, Italy and France to get treatment. The pain was really unbearable. I was meant to be out for eight months, but I managed to return in January 2017, and played in my first official games for Watford in the cup.
“During our second game, our backup keeper got injured. A few days later, I get told that I won’t be in the Premier League registered squad, that they took me out to add a fourth goalkeeper. That was just a few hours before the end of the January transfer window”.
Despite this, Dja Djédjé said he ‘accepted the club’s decision’, and while he would have liked to go out on loan to get some regular football, the Watford board said no, which is when he decided to bring in a sports and physical trainer to get back in shape.
Fast forward to this summer.
The Watford defender said: “Once the season ended, I barely took any holiday. I started training early to be ready for the new season. During preseason, in July, all the staff were happy with me. I played some good games. Everything went well until I sprained a finger in training.
“From that moment, everything changed at the club. I noticed something was up, but no one was telling me anything, and when I asked for a franc and clear conversation, I was tirelessly told ‘keep training well.’
“Towards the end of August, a few clubs wanted me on loan, but Watford refused to let me go, and when I left for Abidjan to play for the national team, I learnt in the press that I wouldn’t be in the Premier League squad once again, yet, a few weeks before, the manager told me everything was going well”.
Describing himself as ‘bewildered’ by everything that’s happened to him, the right-back still doesn’t understand what is going on other than he won’t be playing Premier League football anytime soon.
Now planning on working hard so that, hopefully, a club or a manager believes in him enough in January to give him a chance, Dja Djédjé wants everyone to know the player he was at Marseille is still there, and hasn’t lost any of his ability.
Finally, asked if he was ever at fault at Watford, he adamantly replied: “Never, never. I’ve never had an application problem, and my football level is still at the top”.
