Watford are expected to complete the permanent signings of several players by the weekend, the Watford Observer understands.

The Hornets have announced two deals so far this week and we understand they are set to sign a host more by the end of this weekend.

Former loanees Marco Cassetti, Joel Ekstrand, Ikechi Anya, Daniel Pudil and Almen Abdi are on the club’s pre-season trip to Italy and we believe they will be among those to sign permanent deals imminently.

Udinese’s Gabriele Angella, Marco Davide Faraoni and Jaime Romero are also on the list of players the club plan to sign permanently in the coming days and are already training with the group.

Cristian Battocchio, who was with Watford last season, and former Manchester United defender Reece Brown are also with the squad but we understand negotiations are at an earlier stage with those two.

Udinese announced at the weekend that former Real Madrid B forward Javier Acuna had signed for the Italian club and would be loaned out to Watford.

We understand the Hornets want to sign their foreign players on permanent deals so they could leave their loan allocation for domestic-based players.

We believe Acuna will join the Watford squad in Italy early next week but it is just a matter of how the deal will be structured.

Udinese, Granada and Watford co-owner Gianpaolo Pozzo has been quoted as saying Angella, Faraoni and Diego Fabbrini were heading to Watford but we understand Fabbrini is far from a done deal.

The futures of Fitz Hall and Manuel Almunia also remain unclear after their contracts with Watford expired this week.

The potential arrival of defenders Cassetti, Ekstrand, Angella and Brown is likely to affect whether Hall stays at Vicarage Road but with Jonathan Bond the only contracted goalkeeper, a deal for Almunia seems more probable.

There is a trialist goalkeeper with the squad in Italy and scholar Dan Wilks is also in Mals, northern Italy. The other scholars who travelled are Carl Stewart and George Byers.

Matej Vydra is in Italy but he is not training with Watford; the striker is back at Udinese and his future remains unclear, with several clubs interested in the striker.

Tommie Hoban and Nyron Nosworthy were left at home due to injuries and Carl Dickinson, Adam Thompson, Lee Hodson and Ross Jenkins did not travel.

This article was written yesterday afternoon and appeared in today's Watford Observer.