Watford have significantly boosted their forward options with the club-record signing of striker Andre Gray from Burnley for a reported fee of £18.5 million.
The 26-year-old joins Brazilian attacker Richarlison at Vicarage Road and will be available to make his Hornets debut in Saturday’s home encounter with Liverpool.
The History
Gray began his career at hometown club Wolverhampton Wanderers before joining Shrewsbury Town at the age of 13.
It was there he made his professional debut in 2009, departing for non-league side Hinckley United in June 2010.
He scored 29 goals in 65 appearances for Hinckley and then signed for Luton Town, initially on loan, during the final months of the 2011/12 season.
Gray scored five goals in nine matches for the Hatters, securing a permanent move ahead of the 2012/13 campaign.
He stayed at Kenilworth Road for the next two seasons and impressively netted 47 goals in 88 appearances, convincing Championship outfit Brentford to sign him in June 2014.
The striker registered 16 goals and eight assists in 45 league outings for the Bees, which led to Burnley paying a reported £9 million for the forward.
His 25 goals and 10 assists in 43 appearances helped the Clarets secure the Championship title, while Gray was named Championship Player of the Year and also won the Golden Boot.
Last season, Gray produced nine goals and three assists in 32 matches, including a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Sunderland.
The Prospects
Given the significant outlay, Gray will be expected to spearhead the Hornets’ attack for the season ahead.
New head coach Marco Silva is a firm advocate of the 4-2-3-1 formation, so with Gray offering far more mobility as the lone striker, captain Troy Deeney may have to drop into the No 10 role in order to remain in the starting XI.
There is plenty of competition in that area of the pitch, though, with Tom Cleverley featuring regularly in a central attacking midfield role during pre-season, while Roberto Pereyra and Will Hughes are also strong options.
Stefano Okaka and Jerome Sinclair are the other striker candidates, with the versatile Richarlison more likely to push for starts on the left wing.
Gray is a striker who likes to play on the shoulder of the last man, with his pace and movement making him a real threat. He is also a good finisher and has enough strength to occupy an opposition back four.
But the 26-year-old can struggle to hold the ball up, while his tendency to be caught offside can cause frustration.
In terms of Gray’s underlying statistics, he averaged a shot every 48.26 minutes, which was far superior to Deeney (70.05), although Okaka (35.37) was the most impressive of the three.
Gray only produced a key pass every 113.4 minutes last term, inferior to both Okaka (68.21) and Deeney (73.55).
Priced at 6.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) and 9.5 in Sky Sports, Gray certainly has the potential to be a viable third forward option.
The Englishman has been a consistent goalscorer over the past few seasons and, having fallen out of favour at Burnley, where Sean Dyche favoured target men Sam Vokes, he should be a better fit in a more fluent and athletic side under Silva.
Watford’s fixtures (LIV bou BHA sot MCI swa) over the opening six Gameweeks are pretty mixed, and with the move happening just days before the start of the season, there are no guarantees Gray will come straight into the starting XI.
Deeney is unlikely to feature due to a groin injury, so one of Okaka or Sinclair could lead the line if Silva doesn’t feel Gray is ready to start against Liverpool.
The opening month of the season should afford Fantasy managers the chance to take stock of Silva’s new-look Watford side.
They only scored 40 goals under Walter Mazzarri last season and ranked 16th for big chances created (44).
The signings made by Silva do offer hope the Hornets will be a different proposition this season.
But with Watford not really facing a favourable run of fixtures until Gameweek 17, their leading Fantasy assets may struggle to attract investment during the early months of the campaign.
The addition of Gray should hand Fantasy managers another mid-price alternative and that can only be good news given the dearth of options in that price bracket last season.
Whether Gray can force his way to the front of the queue remains to be seen, though, given that he will be at a disadvantage if Deeney remains in the side and – as expected – retains penalty duties.
The new arrival showed enough flashes last season to suggest he can be a regular scorer in the Premier League, though.
And if Silva can introduce a more attacking brand of football, Gray could be the major beneficiary.
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