Quique Sanchez Flores admits several of Watford’s summer signings have struggled to adapt to the Premier League but he believes they are now ready to make an impact in the Hornets’ first-team.

The likes of Steven Berghuis, Alessandro Diamanti, Victor Ibarbo have featured sporadically for the Golden Boys since joining in the summer transfer while striker Obbi Oulare has yet to make a match-day squad.

Oulare has only represented the club’s Under-21s following his arrival from Club Brugge while Berghuis, Diamanti and Ibarbo have only made fleeting appearances from the substitutes’ bench.

“We have a lot of players who have good potential but they are in different situations,” Flores said this afternoon. "Diamanti is in this pack of players who have to improve for different reasons.

“To stay in the Premier League we have to incorporate the players that we have in the squad [into the team].

“We can’t just use the same 13 or 14 players all season. We need 15 or 16 players participating.

“The Premier League is different though. If you don’t feel right it is very difficult. There are other cases of players who are trying to adapt but haven’t been able to yet.

“Steven (Berghuis) is trying every time but at the moment he isn’t adapting. I don’t think it is confidence. He has quality and skill, it is just a problem of the league.

“It is much more competitive in the Premier League than the Eredivisie. It is completely different. But it is time for some players [to make bigger contributions].”

When asked about Ibarbo, Flores added: “Ibarbo has had some problems in his knee. This is part of the problem. In the Premier League you can’t play anyone who has an injury problem. That is the big difference. You can’t put players who are only 50 per cent in the team.”

Adlene Guedioura is another summer arrival who has struggled for game time under Flores. The Algerian starred towards the end of last season while on loan from Crystal Palace and joined the Golden Boys permanently this summer from Crystal Palace.

However, he has just played three minutes of first-team action for the Hornets and wasn’t included in the match-day squad against Arsenal last weekend.

Explaining Guedioura’s exclusion, Flores said: “Guedioura wasn’t ready for the last match. He trained only a couple of days because he was injured. So I had to make a decision and I didn’t want to put two players on the bench who had problems.

“Behrami (who was nursing a calf injury) was already on the bench and it would’ve been a big risk to have both of them on the bench. That is not allowed.”

Watford’s head coach continued: “Guedioura can play as one of the two deeper midfielders or in the three behind the striker.

“He can play in the position that Abdi plays too because Abdi doesn’t play wide. He plays inside, nearer the ball and is looking to create.

“It isn’t a problem for Guedioura to adapt to the system. For Guedioura the situation was that he was a little anxious with the idea of coming back and playing as soon as possible.

“But he needs to be calm and he needs to have a good feeling with the ball. When he has good precision with the ball it will be the moment to put him on the pitch.”