Andre Gray Completes Watford Transfer from Burnley for Club-Record Fee
Per the club's official website, the 26-year-old signed a five-year contract with the Hornets. The actual record fee was not disclosed.
Gray arrives at Watford having spent two successful seasons with Burnley at Turf Moor. The striker was vital in the Clarets' promotion to the Premier League in 2015-16 and netted nine times last season to help keep the club well clear of a relegation battle.
But the striker declined to sign a new contract, and with just 12 months remaining on his Burnley deal, the Hornets have swooped to secure the forward.
The transfer is yet another intriguing step in Gray's remarkable career. During the 2013-14 season, he was playing for Luton Town in the National League before being picked up by Brentford Town.
In Gray, Marco Silva has a forward that has proved himself at the highest two levels of the English game, as these figures from WhoScored.com show:
If Gray is afforded space to burst into, he can be so dangerous. On the ball he's a tidy dribbler, is brilliant at manufacturing time for himself and, as these aforementioned figures show, he can find the back of the net frequently.
There are areas of his game that can be improved. Gray's hold-up play is often erratic, as is his use of the ball with his back to goal.
Still, he's a goalscorer, and provided he can offer the kind of predatory threat in Watford colours as he did for Burnley, the supporters of his new club will be delighted with this acquisition.
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