Allan Nyom has been one of the Hornets’ stand-out performers this season following his summer move from Udinese but the full-back insists he will only get better over the coming months. 

The Cameroon international has played every minute of Watford’s five Premier League matches and has been a key component of a defence that has only been breached in two top-flight games. 

But the 27-year-old says he is still acclimatising to English football following six years in Spain on loan at fellow Pozzo-owned club Granada. 

“I am having to adapt to a different style of football. It has been difficult,” Nyom said. “In Spain they play a different style of football. It is more tactical and more technical. Here in England it is faster and it is more intense. I’m working hard to adapt quickly. I can improve.” 

The ease at which Nyom has settled at Watford can partly be put down the schooling he received at Granada. 

During his time in the south of Spain, El Grana rose from the third tier of Spanish football to La Liga, the country’s top flight. 

In the space of three years Nyom and Granada went from playing semi-professional sides to taking on the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. 

The softly-spoken full-back was given the task of marking the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Lionel Messi. It’s hardly surprising he hasn’t been overawed by the Premier League’s elite.

“The best player I faced was Messi,” Nyom said. “He can do everything. But Ronaldo and Neymar are also very good players too. It is very difficult to play against those players but I always had to try and play my best to help the team.” 

Watford Observer:

“[This summer] the Pozzos gave me the opportunity to come to Watford and I said yes,” he continued. 

“The weather is very different to Spain but it is not cold…yet. Everything is very different though. From the players, to the support and the stadium.” 

While there may be many differences to his time in Spain one thing is the same; Nyom is once again teammates with his good friend Odion Ighalo. 

The duo spent five years together at Granada and remained in touch following the striker’s switch to Vicarage Road last summer. 

“Last year I spoke with Ighalo many times,” Nyom explained. “He would always tell me that Watford was a good club and it was very close to London. 

“I live in Watford but London is only 20 minutes on the train. Before I came to England I had never been to London – I have enjoyed going there.” 

Ighalo was offered the chance to leave Vicarage Road this summer and join Chinese club Hebei China Fortune. 

The striker says he turned town “crazy money” to move to the Far East and Nyom believes his friend made the right decision. 

“I think he made the right decision [by staying at Watford],” Nyom said. “Ighalo’s dream was to play in the Premier League and he is now doing that. 

“So it was better for him to stay here and play for Watford in the Premier League. It is hard because money is important, it is difficult to say no.

“But that is what he did. It was his choice and I think he made the right one.”