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Leicester City’s £30m Troy Deeney transfer fell through after Watford agreed to three demands
Troy Deeney has claimed that Watford agreed to remove speed bumps from their training ground to stop him leaving in a £30m transfer to Leicester City.
Deeney was a target for City over a few summers, but particularly in 2016, after they won the Premier League title and were preparing for the Champions League. They had targeted Deeney, who had scored 13 goals and provided eight assists for the Hornets as City topped the Premier League.
Speaking on the Filthy Fellas podcast, Deeney, who has just been released by Birmingham City, said he had conversations with manager Claudio Ranieri, director of football Jon Rudkin, and City skipper Wes Morgan ahead of a potential move. It was a transfer he was keen on, eyeing up a partnership with Jamie Vardy and the possibility of an England call-up.
When Deeney started to say goodbye at the club’s training ground, Watford told him he could name his price. Not only did he get a wage increase, but his three demands were met too. Deeney asked for speed bumps to be taken out at the training ground to make it easier to drive his Lamborghini, for his box at Vicarage Road to be knocked through to make it double the size, and to get two parking spaces in the directors’ car park.
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He said: “I’m in Miami, and it’s Leicester. I’m talking to Ranieri and their director of football. I’m chatting to Wes Morgan. They’re like: ‘Troy, we want you.’
“I was in a club, and I had to take a call from Claudio Ranieri in the club. His English was a bit sketchy but he’s saying: ‘Troy, we want to take you.’ And I’m like: ‘Claudio, I’m going to have to call you back. I’m in Miami, in a club, I’ll call back tomorrow and we’ll discuss it.’
“They want to get me in. Wes is like: ‘You and Jamie up the front with Riyad [Mahrez] on the side. You’ll mash them up, Jamie will run in behind. You’re ready to be second fiddle to him.’
“I went: ‘Second fiddle to who? I’m Troy.’ I said: ‘Jamie can do the running in behind, but I’m an elbow man, I’m a push man. When he gets there, if he can’t shoot, you tell him to pull it back and I’ll score.’
“So we had that whole chat and it was all ready to go. When I left Walsall for Watford, it was £300,000 with a 25 per cent sell-on clause. So Watford were like: ‘If it’s £30m we’re going to get that… it needs to be £40m. We’ve got to make a decision, how do you want to do this?’
“I was like: ‘I want to go to Leicester’. They’d just won the league, they were in the Champions League. If I play three games I’ll probably get an England call-up.
“So we go back into Watford and they’re like: ‘Give us one last chance to convince you to stay.’ They’d got in Walter Mazzari, the Italian coach.
“My agent was like: ‘When we pull up, go in there and say your goodbyes to all the staff and go get your boots. Let them know you’re ready to leave.’
“So I come in, say goodbye to everybody, thanks for everything. Thank you chairman, appreciate the time. I get my boots, go to my car. About three minutes after, the phone’s ringing. It’s: ‘What do you want? What do you want to stay?’
“So they are talking name your price and you can get it. And I’m like: ‘Let’s play then, what shall we get?’
“At this point I had a grey Lamborghini Aventador. Every time we drive into the training ground, speed bumps. So I’m like: ‘Can you take the speed bumps out?’
“I was getting the money. I was saying take the speed bumps out. I’ve got one box [at Vicarage Road], it’s only a 10-seater. Can I get two boxes, knock the wall out? I want a bottle of champagne every time. At this point they’re going: ‘Yeah, yeah, you can have that.’
“Then I’m like: ‘My boys don’t like walking from the bottom, can I get two in the directors’ car park?’ And they’re like: ‘Have it.’”
Those demands were met and Deeney stayed at Watford. City went on to spend £30m on Islam Slimani as their marquee signing that summer, but the Algerian did not become a hit at the King Power Stadium.
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