Watford set sights on Aston Villa’s Brazilian powerhouse and 24-year-old Moldovan talisman

Watford have identified two striker targets in the form of Aston Villa man Wesley and Beitar Jerusalem star Ion Nicolaescu, as per the Daily Mail.

Watford have made four new signings so far this summer, bringing in Rhys Healey, Tom Ince, Jake Livermore and Giorgi Chakvetadze. More additions are needed though as Valerien Ismael prepares his squad for the new Championship season.

At striker, the Hornets currently have new signing Healey, returning loanee Vakoun Bayo, Ashley Fletcher and 19-year-old Jorge Cabezas. We could see movement on that front soon though, with two new strikers linked with the club.

The Daily Mail claims that Watford have spoken to forgotten Aston Villa man Wesley and Moldovan hotshot Nicolaescu.

Wesley, 26, is back on these shores after a difficult stint in Spain with Levante and his deal is up next summer and could head to Vicarage Road on loan. Meanwhile, 24-year-old Nicolaescu comes into this summer off the back of 19 goals and 10 assists in 46 games for Israeli side Beitar Jerusalem.

If Wesley and Nicolaescu were both to join, you would think one or two strikers would leave Watford. Time will tell just who they are though and whether or not these rumours will develop into anything more serious.

Brazilian striker Wesley has had some tough times since leaving Club Brugge. He’s played for a number of clubs after struggling for game time with Villa but his powerful presence at the top of the pitch could make him a nuisance as he looks to get his career back on the right track.

Nicolaescu looks like a player on the up and one who could made a step to a bigger league though. He’s been prolific with Beitar Jerusalem and in the Moldovan national side, netting 12 in 34 for his country. He too is out of contract next summer and while he’s not got experience in a top league, he could be a player worth taking a gamble on after such a productive 2022/23 season.

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So far this summer, Watford have seen their attempts to land a fresh, physical striker alongside the acquisition of Toulouse forward Rhys Healey have proved elusive.

In Valerien Ismael’s known direct style of football, he more often than not has a focal point in attack that the ball can be aimed to from crosses – such as Daryl Dike when he was successful at Barnsley.

The Hornets have tried to go down that route once again by landing known aerial threat Cho Gue-sung from South Korean outfit Jeonbuk Motors, but they lost out on his services to Danish side FC Midtjylland.

That meant that Watford had to look at other targets, with individuals such as experienced Algerian forward Islam Slimani linked to Vicarage Road, but the Hertfordshire side have set their sights on a new face.

According to a report from Simon Jones of the Daily Mail in his Transfer Confidential column, the Hornets are now in negotiations with Aston Villa over a potential deal for Brazilian striker Wesley Moraes, who has fallen out of favour with the Premier League club in recent years.

Watford want to take the 26-year-old on loan for the 2023-24 season and talks are ongoing to try and bring him to the club.

Despite growing up in Brazil, Wesley certainly had an interesting come up in football as his first professional appearance came for Slovakian outfit Trencin in 2015 when he was 18 years of age.

After scoring eight times in 22 appearances in his one and only half-season in Slovakia, Wesley was signed by Club Brugge of Belgium and in his three-and-a-half years at the club, he developed into a promising talent with his final season in 2018-19 seeing him score 17 times in all competitions.

That led to Villa signing him for a fee of £22 million in 2019, but just six months into his time in England having scored six times in 22 appearances, Wesley suffered an ACL rupture in January 2020 which put him on the sidelines for the best part of 15 months.

The Brazilian did not return to the pitch until April 2021, initially in the under-21’s before playing three times in the Premier League before the 2020-21 season was done, but it was the beginning of the end for him at Villa Park as after a cameo outing at the start of the following season, Wesley was loaned back to Club Brugge.