Matej Vydra thought he was ready for the step up to the Premier League following his first year with Watford but after seeing the likes of David Silva and Eden Hazard first hand, the striker now accepts he must work harder if he is to replicate his Championship form in English football’s top flight.

Vydra’s debut season in the Championship saw him score 22 goals in 47 games in all competitions and he was crowned the division’s player of the year.

A significant goal drought in the second half of the 2012/13 campaign, when he didn’t find the net in 13 outings for the Hornets, didn’t prevent the Czech Republic international from being rewarded with a five-year contract by Udinese and earning a dream move into the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion.

But Vydra went on to make just nine starts and 14 substitute appearances in all competitions and scored on only three occasions.

Vydra acknowledged: “I left before and [thought] I am ready for the Premier League but when I saw the quality of players like David Silva and players like Eden Hazard, I then woke up again and [realised] ‘you need to train more and more’.

“I didn’t play as much but I saw the quality of the other players and said [to myself] ‘wake up, you need to train more’.”

It is a lesson his friend and Watford teammate Daniel Tozser recognised last month. But the Hungarian midfielder believes Vydra’s slow start this season reiterated that message further.

Vydra scored on the opening day of the Championship but then didn’t find the net for another five games.

However, a seemingly reinvigorated Vydra then scored six goals in nine games when playing in a deeper role behind the striker.

Fellow countryman and former housemate Daniel Pudil believes Vydra is now a better player than the one who left Vicarage Road 18 months ago.

“I don’t know [if that is true]; if I score more goals this season then yes, but I am not the one to say if I am better,” Vydra responded.

Watford were confident they would recapture the 22-year-old’s services this summer and they landed their number one transfer target early into pre-season.

After a year on the fringes at the Hawthorns, the forward says regular football was one of the main reasons he was happy to return to the Golden Boys.

Vydra said: “Every player wants to play in the Premier League but last season I didn’t play [as much as I would have liked] and this season I had the chance to play [regularly] again like I did two years ago and I want to play. That was why I made the decision [to come back].”

So what changed during his time away?

“The kitchen has changed. The kitchen is better,” Vydra joked, referring to the much-changed eating area at the club’s London Colney training ground.

“Everything has changed. (Owner) Gino (Pozzo) wants us to go up so he has built a good team, two new training pitches and a good kitchen so now the players must go up,” he added laughing.

“I don’t want to say we were lucky in the first year but we had a good chance and maybe the people who were still here last year were angry about the first year and they finished 13th last season.

“We want to go up but you never know. It is difficult.

“This team can go up but we have to play our football.”

The Czech Republic international added: “Before the last two games we were playing well and we beat everyone. Now we need to keep going like a few games ago, play our football and we can beat everyone.”