Beppe Sannino claims he will wait until next week to decide if he wants to make more signings, after Watford agreed deals for two new players.

The Hornets are on the verge of announcing the signings of Alexander Merkel and Mathias Ranegie from Udinese.

The Watford Observer understands Merkel has signed a contract to join the club on loan until the summer and Ranegie is close to agreeing a long-term permanent deal.

We understand the pair have been training with the rest of the Hornets players in recent days ahead of the move.

The duo have been linked with the club for several months and were both seen watching Watford's 0-0 draw with Queens Park Rangers on December 29 from the directors box.

But when Sannino was asked about the duo’s pending arrival this afternoon, he replied: “The club have the right to decide. If one player is officially added to the club then I will speak about it.”

When asked if he planned to sign any more players - in addition to Ranegie and Merkel - Sannino replied: “I am very practical. At the moment the squad that I have is the best squad that I could have.

“We go to Bristol City and we play the game and after the game I will have time to talk to the club and do an assessment and see if we can improve in certain areas and strengthen.”

He added: “For now the Watford squad is the best in the world. I will never say anything about a player that can come or may come.

“The squad I have is the best I could have and if they play for Watford, [then for me] they are the best players in the world.

“I am a head coach. That means I work on the pitch.”

Merkel is said to be a creative and attacking midfielder who can also play in central midfield due to his high work rate.

In 2011, respected German journalist Raphael Honigstein wrote that Merkel was not too dissimilar to Bayern Munich’s Mario Götze in style.

The 21-year-old was born in Kazakhstan before emigrating to Germany at the age of six.

He signed with Stuttgart’s academy but was reportedly expelled after suffering bad grades at school.

However, he had a trial with AC Milan and did enough to convince the Italian club to sign him in 2008.

He failed to break into the Rossoneri side however and left the club in 2011 for Serie A side Genoa in a 50-50 co-ownership deal with Milan.

After a number of impressive displays for Genoa in the first half of the season he was linked with a move to Manchester City but he rejoined AC Milan on loan in January 2012.

However, he made just one league appearance for Milan and returned to Genoa in the summer of 2012 and played just six league matches before joining Udinese last January.

He again found first team football limited and was linked with a move back to Germany before linking up with the Hornets.

Striker Ranegie was a late-comer to professional football and, after a largely unsuccessful spell at IFK Göteborg, made a name for himself at BK Häcken, where he scored 36 goals in 81 appearances.

The 29-year-old's form earned him a move to Malmo and he netted 13 goals in 26 league matches, which persuaded Udinese to sign the player in the summer of 2012.

Ranegie has made 24 Serie A appearances for Udinese since signing with the club but only three of those have been starts.

He has netted just once for the Little Zebras. That goal came in his full debut against AC Milan last season and the striker also won a penalty to help Udinese complete a 2-1 win.

Speaking after that win, Udinese head coach Francesco Guidolin said: “He isn’t just this big forward who stands there. Ranegie has great technique and is such a strong professional, he works really hard.”