Thursday 7 January 2016 13:37, UK
Quique Sanchez Flores says Troy Deeney will not be leaving Watford in the January transfer window.
Deeney has been linked in several newspapers with a move to Arsenal but revealed this week that he wants to stay at the club - and Flores has now confirmed his captain is going nowhere.
Flores told Sky Sports News HQ: "We are in the time of the transfer market. It is very good news for Watford. We are very happy that clubs are interested in the players of Watford. It is very good that teams are interested in Igahlo, Deeney, Capoue and Ake.
"It means the players are doing really well. It means the focus of others teams is on Watford and our work.
"It is almost impossible that Deeney would abandon the project in the middle of the season. After this season, anything is possible. Maybe the next step for Deeney is not thinking about going to another team - because the next step should be the national team.
"The case of Jamie Vardy at Leicester. He has got into the national team because finally the coach values the performance and quality of the players.
"We are talking about bringing in players all the time but we are very clear about the type of player that we want. We want a player who is here to be involved in the project for a year - not on loan, not for three or four months. We need to believe in our project and we need players who can believe in that project. We must think of the future."
Deeney himself admitted he is flattered by the interest from Premier League rivals but the 27-year-old striker insisted he would remain at Watford, even if it makes him less popular in his own home.
"We have got a project to complete and the gaffer has stated before that whatever happens in the summer, will happen in the summer," Deeney told talkSPORT.
"It is very flattering (the Arsenal interest). My son is an Arsenal fan so he read it in the paper the other day and I do not think he is happy that I am staying at Watford."
Deeney has found the net six times in the league this season, and has formed a formidable partnership with Odion Ighalo up front, scoring a combined 20 league goals in as many games.
Their exploits have lifted Watford to ninth in the Premier League, four points off fifth-placed Manchester United and a possible European spot.
Ighalo, too, has drawn reported interests from bigger clubs but Deeney insisted the Nigerian was staying put at Vicarage Road until the end of the season.
"He is not going to leave in January. The manager and the owner have made that clear," Deeney added.
"The pleasing thing from my point of view and from Iggy's (Ighalo) is people want us. That shows that we have been doing something right for the past five, six months."
One player who has been linked with Watford has been former Tottenham and Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who is without a club.
While Flores admits talks have taken place, he has expressed reservations over the 31-year-old Togolese player.
He said: "We haven't taken the decision because until the last moment we will try to be right that the player is the player we need.
"Not just the player but the characteristics of the player because he is an amazing player but the characteristics of Adebayor, is it the necessities of the team?
"We need to check everything because we don't want players who expect to play every single day, every single match.
"We can't give that kind of circumstances to the players - I don't know if it is possible to solve in the next few days."
Watford host Newcastle in the FA Cup third round on Saturday, before traveling to the south coast four days later to face 13th-placed Southampton in the league.
