Watford tried but ultimately failed to bring former captain Moussa Sissoko back to Vicarage Road during the January transfer window.

The pursuit of the 33-year-old French international midfielder began well before the window opened, and the Watford Observer understands the player was willing to take a cut in his wages in order to facilitate the move.

What may have been the stumbling block is Nantes were looking for a transfer fee – not surprising given they paid Watford around £1.8m for Sissoko in the summer, and the midfielder still had 18 months left on his contract.

The fee was believed to be far less than what they paid in July, but paying a fee seemed to be where the potential return of Sissoko faltered.

Watford’s interested in bringing back Sissoko – who made 38 appearances and scored twice last season – was piqued when they became aware the player would like to return to England.

Although a French national himself, his family have spent much of their lives in England due to his playing career at Newcastle, Tottenham and then the Hornets.

Having lived in England for more than a decade, the family have struggled to settle in France and Watford were alerted.

Although head coach Slaven Bilic never mentioned Sissoko, he certainly fits the bill in terms of being an experienced midfield leader.

Bilic made no secret of the fact he felt his squad needed both a midfielder and a winger, and he regularly referred to wanting players who could just ‘pull on a shirt’ and go onto the pitch to do a job.

Sissoko would certainly have been able to do that. He has been a regular for Nantes this season, making 22 Ligue 1, cup and Europa League appearances.

Nantes are unbeaten in their last six league games, and have kept clean sheets in five of them.

Although the likes of Tom Cleverley and Imran Louza are on the verge of returning to action after long injury lay-offs, Bilic wanted another experienced option who would remove the need to rush players back.

Sissoko was also very well regarded at Watford, both by club officials and the playing squad.

In a recent matchday programme Q&A feature, Craig Cathcart was posed a question submitted by Sissoko himself, who asked “Do you miss me?”!

Cathcart’s answer was: “Yeah I do! Everyone misses him. He was a really nice guy and a good captain. He was humble for all he has achieved.”

When he moved to Nantes in the summer, it was widely known that Sissoko was keen to join them because that transfer involved a fee coming Watford’s way. Other potential deals would not have done so.