Darren Sarll has taken a senior youth management role with Watford in a move which will see him join the Vicarage Road club next week.

The 35-year-old will leave his post as head of technical youth development at Stevenage – a job he has held since departing as Boro manager in March.

Sarll’s appointment is the latest development in Watford’s restructuring of their youth set up which saw Andy Scott introduced as UK recruitment director in November last year.

Scott, who been tasked with producing more young players who are capable of making it into the Watford first team, has implemented plans for a B team and better local scouting networks.

"The feeling from Scott [Duxbury] and Gino [Pozzo] was that we weren’t getting enough young players in contention to be in the first team," Scott told the Watford Observer in January. "Since the middle of November when I came in I’ve been assessing the academy and looking at everything.

"That's the coaching, finances, recruitment, pathways, sports science, medical and everything else.

"We’re going to remain as a category two academy side, it’s good enough for us, but we want to accelerate our players through and give them a clearer pathway and a bigger pathway to the first team."

Sarll spent two-and-a-half years managing Stevenage after a playing career which saw him feature for a host of lower league clubs.

Boro chairman, Phil Wallace, was quick to congratulate Sarll on his new position and thank him for his services to the club’s youth development.

Wallace told the Boro website: “I am pleased for Darren. Any move to a Premier League club is an upward one and who knows how that might play out in the future.

“Darren has learnt a lot from his time at Stevenage and I have no doubt he will put it to good use in his new career.

“We wish him all the very best and thank him for his efforts and significant contribution to our youth and first team development.”