Assurances from Marco Silva that he was the man who wanted to bring Andre Gray to Vicarage Road convinced the 26-year-old to join the club, he has revealed.

The hot-shot striker first heard of Watford's interest well before it became public knowledge on Tuesday evening, but once a club-record fee had been agreed with his then-club Burnley, he wanted to know just who was the instigator of a bid to take him to Watford.

A clear admiration of Hornets head coach Silva fuelled a desire to join the club once he learned of the 39-year-old's interest, as well as a suggestion the club will play more to his strengths than he was accustomed to at Turf Moor, where he spent much of his time with his back to goal.

He said: "There was some part of that [a different style of play] behind moving. It’s a completely different challenge. The manager’s got some new ideas, I’ve never played under a foreign manager and it’s a new challenge. Hopefully he can get the best out of me.

"When the fee got agreed, speaking through agents it was clear to see Marco wanted me. It was the first thing I asked my agent, was the manager on board, because I didn’t want to sign somewhere where it wasn’t down to the manager’s decision."

With Watford's habit of changing managers regularly - there've been eight head coaches occupying the Vicarage Road head coach's office in four years - any admiration of Silva's methods could be short-lived for Gray.

But the Wolverhampton-born striker is optimistic that the Portuguese's stay with the Hornets could be longer than his recent predecessors.

He said: "It’s plain to see the stuff that’s happened with Watford, but you can see why it was happening. It shows the ambition the club have got, it’s not good for the players if managers keep getting sacked but you can understand why they want to do that if they want to be high up in the division.

"Obviously now, it seems to me they’ve got their man and hopefully we can do him proud."