Watford are seeing Domingos Quina thrive in the Premier League.
Watford chairman Scott Duxbury has told the Daily Mail of how the club couldn’t really believe that they could sign Domingos Quina from West Ham United.
With Will Hughes out injured right now, midfielder Quina came into the Watford side for a first Premier League start against Everton last Monday, and certainly didn’t disgrace himself at Goodison Park.
On Saturday, Quina started again as Watford beat Cardiff City 3-2, with the Portuguese teenager scoring what proved to be the winning goal with a superb long-range effort.
Watford fans have been hailing the 19-year-old, and West Ham have been left to wonder what might have been had they not sold the former Chelsea talent.
Quina’s contract would have been up next summer, and with Barcelona and Real Madrid keen, West Ham felt they were going to lose him on a pre-contract agreement in 2019.
Watford then swooped in to sign him just before the transfer deadline, and chairman Scott Duxbury has now offered an insight into the deal.
Duxbury has revealed that Watford’s technical director Filippo Giraldi felt Quina was ‘phenomenal’, but thought any chance of the Hornets signing him had to ‘be a joke’, as Watford surely couldn’t sign him.
However, after one phone call to West Ham, it became clear that a deal really was possible, and the rest is history, with Giraldi, Duxbury, Javi Gracia and Watford fans no doubt delighted that West Ham felt they had to sell him.
“Technical director Filippo Giraldi said, “He’s phenomenal but it’s got to be a joke, how on earth can we do this?”,” said Duxbury. “I phone West Ham. It’s not a joke. He’s got a year left. They want to do a deal because they know they’re going to lose him in January,” he added.
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