The house of Gianpaolo Pozzo - head of family which owns Watford FC - and the administrative office at Italian club Udinese have been searched by the tax police of Udine.

In a statement released by Udinese, the club said that around thirty police officers have started an audit on documents.

Pozzo said: "It's not the first time for us to be under tax inspection. It certainly is not pleasant, but as we've always done, we will collaborate with the police to prove the correctness of our conduct and to unravel any possible charges".

The Little Zebras were subject of a similar investigation in the past which resulted in the club paying €10 million to the Internal Revenue Service.

However, Pozzo has said Udinese have started a procedure to receive a refund on that transaction as a later verdict started that no offence had been committed by the club.

Pozzo added: “We are confident that we will prove we acted in compliance with law also this time".

Gianpaolo has only attended a handful of Watford matches since the Pozzo family bought the Golden Boys in 2012.

The 73-year-old has little involvement at Watford and his son Gino is in charge of the day-to-day running of the club.

The Hornets declined to comment when contacted by the Watford Observer.