Watford sporting director Cristiano Giaretta has insisted his side’s close ties with Udinese will end up benefiting both clubs.
Both clubs are owned by the Pozzo family. This has seen the two sides carry out several deals over the past few years.
Giaretta had a chat with TuttoMercatoWeb, where towards the end of the interview, he was told the synergy between Watford and Udinese isn’t liked by a lot of people.
Responding to that, he said: “The synergy between these two clubs is an opportunity from which they both benefit. The owners want the best, the best for both clubs and dedicate the same amount of time to them.
“And we can always keep the value of the players high. If you have maybe someone who doesn’t do well on one side, they can be moved to the other and to different levels.
“To give examples I am thinking of the big rises of Deulofeu and Pereyra, the same goes for Success this year. And vice versa Sema came here and is establishing himself as one of the best wingers in the league.
“I understand the controversy, we know that we will meet each other, but I have been with this family for 6 years and the benefit of working like this is really high.”
Watford were one of the three clubs relegated from the Premier League last season. The Italian, who helped the club return to the topflight in 2021, is focused on repeating the same feat next year.
The director talked about this when discussing his time at Vicarage Road so far. He joined the Championship side in 2020.
“The impact was great, going to work in England has always been my goal. When Gino Pozzo called me, what can I say… I arrived when Watford had just been relegated to the Championship, a league that is a sort of marathon, difficult to win,” he explained.
“There I experienced a different market, of course, even if I had to manage the whole environment and, in my opinion, it was a very good job, given that we immediately returned to the Premier League.
“What a gratification… But I understood how difficult it is to stay at those levels. In fact, unfortunately last season we were relegated, with Everton saving themselves at the last minute despite a crazy budget.
“Now I’m in my third year here and we’re back in the running to win the Championship. I’m very happy to have making this type of choice is as gratifying as it is demanding. You have to study to be ready, in my position I can’t be unprepared.”
The Championship side are currently fourth in the table with 37 points after 23 games, 10 points behind league leaders Burnley.
Claudio Ranieri was at Watford from last October to January and Giaretta opened up on why the manager was not able to deliver at the club.
“I really enjoyed working with him, knowing him in person was a great confirmation of both his intellectual honesty and the football preparation he has. I understood why he reached certain levels,” Giaretta added.
“We asked a lot of him, objectively, because we didn’t have a team that was perhaps so competitive. We could have played better, we made some mistakes, he gave us a lot back and we achieved some joys like some victories against the big names. But in the long run we paid for a lack of competitiveness.”
