Head coach Slaven Bilic is expecting Ismaila Sarr back at the training ground tomorrow, or possibly today, and has no doubts about his fitness – but he wouldn’t be drawn on the Senegal forward’s involvement in Sunday’s game with Hull City at Vicarage Road.

Sarr did not rejoin the Watford squad immediately after Senegal were knocked out of the World Cup by England on Sunday, the club choosing instead to let him have some time in his home country.

“He may be back today, but we are expecting him to be back here tomorrow,” said Bilic.

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“He has just played four games at the World Cup, virtually every minute of the Senegal games, and then he flew home with the rest of the squad. We then gave him a few days to spend with his family.”

The Watford head coach has no worries that Sarr would not be fit for Sunday.

“There is no fitness issue: he played against England on Sunday. Before that he played all games since I arrived too.

“So he is fit, and if he needed anything it is a few days rest, so that is why he had time with his family.

“We’ll see if he is ready for the game on Sunday, but I hope so. He is one of the best players in the Championship and very important to us.

“You need the players who can make a difference, especially those who can make that difference in and around the opponent’s box.”

Bilic was asked whether having played at the World Cup a few months after winning the African Cup of Nations, Sarr may find the Championship hard to get motivated for.

“It’s not the first time he has gone and played in a big tournament,” said Bilic.

“He won the African Cup of Nations, came back to Watford and performed.

“He’s done it before and he’s a professional. I’ve said a few times before I think he is a good boy, and I was asked before the World Cup if I thought he would be playing to save himself for the World Cup. Before the World Cup, he started all but one of the games since I arrived, and he came on as sub in the other one.

“I only subbed him off twice in that time, both occasions when the game was won and near the end. So why question his character?

“Part of my job is to get him on a level where he performs for us. It is natural that players minds will be on a World Cup because it is such a massive event. You can’t switch off from a World Cup, but that is the same for Harry Kane and Luka Modric as it is for Ismaila Sarr.”

The World Cup break allowed Bilic and his players to enjoy something of a ‘mid-season pre-season’, including a spell in the Spanish sun and extended time training together.

“We were looking forward to the break for a few reasons,” Bilic admitted.

“Firstly I came during the season so I didn’t have the chance to get to know the players better and to work on tactics, and just to have time with them without a game in two or three days.

“Then there was the fact we were playing so many games, and the squad was reduced because of the number of injuries we had which meant we were using the same 14 or 15 players all the time, and that leads to tiredness.

“We’ve had time together, time to work on fitness, time to do everything. We had nearly a week in Spain and then a couple of weeks at the training ground. It was good for us and now we are ready.”

Of course, the break also came when Watford had taken 13 points from the last 18 available.

“We were doing well and getting good results, so in that sense the break was at the wrong time,” said Bilic.

“But on the other side of things, I have had time to work with the players and get to know them without games all the time.

“We had a lot of tiredness, we had a lot of injured players and we also had players on the verge of injury. I was spending so much time with the medical team working out which players could play how many minutes, or if a player needed a break because he’d played two games in four days.

“It was very challenging and I always had the break in mind when I arrived. I think overall it came at a good time for us.”