Abdoulaye Doucoure has committed his future to Watford after signing a new contract with the Vicarage Road club.

The deal, which was revealed to be in the offing by the Watford Observer earlier today, sees the Frenchman put pen to paper on a five-year deal which ties him to the Hornets until the summer of 2023.

Retaining Doucoure's services represents a big coup for the Hornets after a superb 2017/18 season saw him linked with a host of the Premier League's top sides.

The player himself claimed Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal had all expressed an interest in securing his services.

He finished last term as Watford's top scorer as he netted seven goals from midfield and went on to be named Player of the Season.

Watford will be delighted to have kept hold of their star asset, especially after a summer window in which they have already lost Richarlison for £44 million to Everton.

With the 25-year-old set to be tied down for the foreseeable future, Javi Gracia will surely look to build his Watford team around the former Rennes man from next season onwards.

The fact he is able to do so is thanks in part to Watford's determination to hold out for the biggest possible fee for Doucoure.

An asking price of £45m was enough to perturb potential suitors from making an approach to sign Doucoure this summer, with many considering such a fee to risky an investment, despite Doucoure's prolonged run of form.

News of the new deal also quashes any idea that Doucoure, who has missed all of Watford's pre-season games so far, is out of the squad for anything other than the injury Gracia insisted he had on last week.