Watford transfer news: Hornets sign Isaac Success and Christian Kabasele after rejecting £37.5m Odion Ighalo bid
Leicester City target Troy Deeney also signs a new contract on busy day at Vicarage Road
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Your support makes all the difference.Watford have enjoyed one of their busiest days of transfer business in recent times after confirming deals for Nigerian striker Isaac Success and Belgian defender Christian Kabasele.
Troy Deeney, the 15-goal forward has also agreed terms on a new five-year contract to stay at Vicarage Road, ending Leicester City's interest in signing him for a fee believed to be £25m.
The London side paid £12.5m for highly-rated Granada striker Success while an undisclosed agreement has been reached with Racing Genk for 25-year-old Kabasele.
According to claims from the Belgian media, a deal in the region of €10m (£8.4m) has been agreed for the latter, who is currently on international duty with Belgium at Euro 2016.
Watford's transfer splurge follows a remarkable £37.5m offer made by Sven-Goran Eriksson's Shanghai SIPG for Odion Ighalo. The offer was turned down out of hand but it remains unclear whether the Chinese side will return with an even higher bid.
With Ighalo and Deeney both set to remain at Vicarage Road for the forseeable, new-signing Success will be expected to compete for a place in Watford's forward line.
Premier League champions Leicester have courted Deeney, 28, for some time and stepped up their interest this summer as they plan for their maiden campaign in the Champions League.
Confirming the news on Watford’s official website on Friday afternoon, Deeney said: “This club really means business and I want to be part of this. I’ve listened carefully to everything the club has had to say to me recently.”
Meanwhile, in a farewell letter to Granada's supporters, Success wrote: “Today is a bittersweet day for me, because through this letter, I want to say goodbye to the best fans that you can have, of my colleagues, of all workers in the club who have both supported me since I arrived in Granada, in addition to this city that has given me everything.
“Now I begin another professional stage, which would not have been possible without my learning and development in Granada.”
Success has been comfortable playing on either side of a front three or as an out-and-out striker during his time with the La Liga club. He scored six goals in 30 games for Granada last season.
The signing of Success, together with Kabasele, Adalberto Penaranda, Jerome Sinclair, marks a return to the Pozzo leaderships' traditional strategy of signing young players with the potential to attract higher transfer fees down the line.
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