Troy Deeney will remain Watford captain despite striker Andre Gray arriving in £18.5m club record deal
- Troy Deeney will remain as Watford captain for coming Premier League season
- Hornets have also signed Brazilian Richarlison after work permit application
- Deeney fell out of favour with former manager Walter Mazzarri last campaign
- But new boss Marco Silva has reassured the striker over his place in the side
Troy Deeney will remain Watford's captain and will not be sold despite the signing of striker Andre Gray for a club record £18.5million.
Deeney, 29, has been linked with leaving Vicarage Road and had a rocky relationship with manager Walter Mazzarri last season.
Mazzarri's replacement Marco Silva has no plans to send Deeney packing and the Portuguese will not use the arrival of Gray to force him out the door.
Troy Deeney will remain as Watford skipper with Heurelho Gomes (right) as vice captain
Forward Andre Gray has signed for Watford from Burnley in a £18.5million summer transfer
'He is our player, he is important to us, he is our captain,' Silva said. 'He is the one player I hope we keep. I want to keep him in the team.
'I don't have reasons to change our captain. He's our captain, like Ben Watson is our vice-captain, like Heurelho Gomes is our vice-captain as well, and I don' t have reasons to change anything in this situation.'
Watford face Liverpool at home on Saturday in their Premier League season opener. Deeney underwent minor surgery on a groin problem this summer and Silva added: 'He is progressing well.
'He started not 100 per cent with the team but on Wednesday did part of the session with us and was part of the loop. In the next few days he will be ready to start full training.'
Hornets manager Marco Silva does not see the need to change the captain of his side
Gray is understood to be on £55,000 a week at Watford and he became their seventh signing of the summer on Wednesday.
On whether he will appear against Liverpool, Silva added: 'He had his first session on Thursday morning. Normally I don't put a player in the XI with only two days with the team.
'He needs to understand our ideas and our model, but I don't know yet. I need to decide.
'We need time, we need players to understand our ideas. But we won't use it as an excuse, we want to work our players and give them our idea quickly.'
Most watched Sport videos
- Barcelona fans go head to head with police ahead of quarter finals
- Phil Foden on the No 47, Klopp, Man City and England ambitions
- Would back-to-back trebles make Man City the best club side ever?
- Man City fans grab selfies with United legend ahead of Madrid tie
- Football Pundit Eli Aluko speaks on 'Institutional racism'
- Portsmouth fans scale pubs during wild scenes after promotion
- Kate Abdo breaks down in tears reminiscing about her late father
- David Moyes praises side for three years of European football
- Ryan Garcia SHOVED by Devin Haney on Empire State building
- Ryan Garcia not allowed to pitch and kicked out of Mets game
- Mikel Arteta reflects on 'disappointing' result against Bayern
- Moment masked thieves steal players valuables at the Pirelli Stadium