Watford enquired about bringing fans-favourite Tommy Smith back to Vicarage Road prior to yesterday's emergency loan deadline closing.

Hornets legend Smith, who scored 64 goals for the club in two spells, was crucial during Watford's relegation fight last season, netting 17 times and making numerous more.

The 29-year-old scored twice in five Watford games at the start of this season before Portsmouth snapped up the forward for £1.8m at the end of August.

Smith was a regular during his first two months on the south coast but had not started a Premier League game since December 5 prior to last Saturday.

This led to Derby County, Watford and a number of other clubs asking about the availability of the player in recent weeks.

However, the financially-stricken club are unable to play striker Aruna Dindane as it would automatically trigger a £4m payment to parent club Lens, which resulted in Smith starting on Saturday.

The forward netted his first Pompey goal in the 3-2 win over Hull City at the weekend and he started in the 5-0 defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday before coming off with a broken nose.

Derby boss Nigel Clough openly stated he had approached Portsmouth over taking Smith on loan and Mackay admitted: "I have enquired about Tommy Smith as well, but he played on Saturday, scored a goal and got man-of-the-match for Portsmouth."

When asked on Wednesday night whether the chances of re-signing Smith for a third time were slim, Mackay replied: "He is someone else's player so I am not going to really comment on speculation."