"This beautiful club" - Gerard Deulofeu drops Watford FC, Premier League claim | OneFootball

Former Watford star Gerard Deulofeu is hoping to see the Hornets return to the Premier League one day.

Former Watford winger Gerard Deulofeu has taken to social media to reveal his desire to see the club return to the Premier League one day.

After spells with the likes of Everton, Sevilla and AC Milan, Deulofeu joined Watford on loan from Barcelona in January 2018, and it is fair to say his arrival generated plenty of excitement at Vicarage Road.

Deulofeu may have scored just once in seven appearances for the Hornets during his loan spell, but the move was still made permanent in the summer of 2018 for a reported fee of £11.5 million, plus £3.5 million in add-ons.

The decision to sign Deulofeu permanently proved to be a shrewd one, and he scored 12 goals and provided five assists in 33 appearances during the 2018-19 season as Watford recorded an 11th-placed finish in the Premier League and reached the FA Cup final under Javi Gracia.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, the 6-0 defeat to Manchester City at Wembley marked the start of their decline, and they were relegated from the top flight the following season, with Deulofeu joining Udinese on loan in October 2020 before making a permanent switch to Italy in January 2021.

Gerard Deulofeu sends message to Watford supporters

Deulofeu may have departed Vicarage Road over four years ago, but it is clear he still has plenty of affection for his former club, and in a post on social media on Friday morning, he revealed that he is keen to see Watford back in the Premier League.

In response to a post showing a Hornets shirt from Deulofeu's time at the club, the Spaniard wrote on X: "This beautiful club has to return to the Premier League."

Watford were last in the Premier League in the 2021-22 season when they were relegated with a dismal total of 23 points following a chaotic campaign that saw Xisco Munoz, Claudio Ranieri and Roy Hodgson take charge of the team.

The Hornets failed to seriously challenge for a return to the top flight in their first two seasons back in the Championship, with Rob Edwards, Slaven Bilic, Chris Wilder and Valerien Ismael all struggling to turn the club's fortunes around, but better days could be ahead under Deulofeu's former team-mate Tom Cleverley.

Cleverley took over at Watford on an interim basis following Ismael's sacking in March before being handed the permanent job the following month, and after an excellent start to the season, his side currently sit sixth in the table.

Watford supporters will no doubt be delighted to see Deulofeu's social media post, and it seems that the 30-year-old is closely following his former club while he remains sidelined with a long-term knee injury that has kept him out for almost two years.

Not too long ago, it seemed highly unlikely that the Hornets would be back in the Premier League any time soon, and many tipped them for a season of struggle under Cleverley this term.

However, Cleverley has certainly silenced the doubters, and after an impressive opening few months of the season, his side are firmly among the promotion contenders in the Championship.

Some question marks remain over whether Watford will be able to maintain their promotion push, and they are arguably missing a player like Deulofeu who is capable of coming up with moments of quality, but they have certainly given themselves a strong chance of achieving a surprise play-off finish.