Since the first time I saw him, on a balmy evening in Borehamwood four years ago, I knew Almen Abdi would be a special player for Watford.

One of the initial cohort to swap Pavarotti for Go Compare, Abdi has been an absolute revelation since moving from Udinese, and is a well-established fans’ favourite.

In his first year in Hertfordshire he won Player of the Season, and in the season that followed, the plantar fasciitis injury that plagued him seemed to affect everyone. Supporters and players alike all tried to perform as they did previously, but something important was missing.

Abdi’s absurd footballing intelligence and ability belie his unassuming demeanour.

Whether he’s arrowing a shot into the top corner from 25 yards or playing a simple return pass to open up space in the middle of the pitch, he goes about his game as if it’s simply a routine task that must be completed.

In reality, Abdi’s football is informed by another dimension, beyond the comprehension of mere humans like me.

And so it has been an unsettling experience watching our Swiss midfield maestro confined to a position out wide - or, wider still, on the bench - for the bulk of the season.

On Saturday though, we were given a glimpse into Abdi’s fifth dimension for the first time in a while.

As he placed the ball down for a free-kick in first-half injury time, we could feel, as we did in years gone by away at Charlton, Hull and Fulham, that the stars were aligning.

No drama or fuss though, this free-kick was textbook Abdi. The ball travelled from point A to point B, along the path of least resistance. The shot’s apparent simplicity masked the frenzied mathematics that went into it.

And so the stage was set for a second half that would no doubt be affected by King Almen’s offensive agility.

But a quarter-of-an-hour after the second half kicked off, something even the wisest prophets would never have foretold: Almen Abdi was shifted to right-back.

Quique Sanchez Flores has played with the hearts and souls of Hornets fans since he took over in the summer. His seemingly rigid philosophy may end up being his downfall if recent reports are accurate.

Although indeed he has presided over some of the greatest successes of Watford Football Club, some have questioned his decisions, particularly over the past four or five months.

This latest move – Abdi to right-back – is possibly the most perplexing of them all.

Granted, it was an offensive substitution to allow a reinvigorated Steven Berghuis to get forward and have a go, but this was truly bizarre.

‘Is Abdi playing in defence then?’ we all asked.

Who’d have thought it though? Abdi can indeed do a job at full-back.

His powers extend to the backline, and his workmanlike performance and apparent invisibility to the referee when hauling down yet another Villa player whilst on a yellow card helped us over the line.

But do we want to see ineffable talents go unused in this manner?

The repurposing of Almen Abdi as a wide, defensive midfielder under Flores is something not many of us can sit comfortably with. But would we rather not see Abdi at all than see him shunted out on the right?

In many ways Abdi’s successor as Watford’s chief creative outlet has been Jose Manuel Jurado, who has been one of the first names on the team sheet all season.

The fact that Jurado too has been played in a position where he’s not completely comfortable must be taken into account, but it’s alarming just how ineffective Jurado has been given the amount of time he’s had on the pitch.

It took until the FA Cup semi-final for Jurado to register his first assist in a Watford shirt, and the Spaniard has still yet to score for the club.

Jurado, like Abdi, is an immensely talented footballer. But where Abdi is quietly efficient Jurado is consistently on the cusp of genuinely affecting a game.

Abdi’s understated effectiveness is like a warped mirror image of Jurado’s composed but ultimately fruitless endeavours.

Jurado is capable of far more than he’s shown so far this year, but football is an unforgiving industry, and I daresay many Watford fans’ minds have been made up on the midfielder.

Sunday’s game in Liverpool may be the perfect time for another creative outlet to properly make his mark though.

Berghuis’ half-an-hour against Villa earned him the man-of-the-match award, and the Dutchman will surely be pushing for a starting berth this weekend.

If he does play, he will look to prove his head coach was wrong to leave him out for so long, and will hope to restart a career at Vicarage Road that never really had a chance to get going before now.

Berghuis would be well-advised to watch both Abdi and Jurado in training this week as he prepares for what could be a defining game in his career at Anfield on Sunday.