It was controversial at the time for a number of reasons, and now it appears Watford’s sale of Hassane Kamara to Udinese for £16m in August 2022 – which saw the player immediately loaned back to the Hornets – is coming under official scrutiny.

A story in The i reveals that the Football League are to review the transfer in order to be certain the fee was not inflated.

Watford paid Nice around £4m for Kamara in January 2022, and the defender ended up winning the club’s Player of the Season award despite only making 19 appearances – though that was more a reflection on the disastrous nature of the relegation season as a whole.

This term he has made 26 league appearances and picked up two red cards and a further eight yellows.

The August sale to Udinese and subsequent return of Kamara to Watford on loan caused immense consternation among fellow Championship clubs and their fans, particularly as both clubs are owned by the Pozzo family.

The Italians bought Watford in 2012, having owned the Serie A side since 1986. They also owned Spanish club Granada from 2009 to 2016.

The main anger among other clubs was that Kamara’s move to Udinese for a figure some four times what Watford paid for him eight months earlier was potentially a way of getting around the financial fair play rules, giving the Hornets an unfair advantage.

The story in The i claims that EFL financial inspectors, who work in the Club Reporting Financial Unit, will review the transfer, as it is between two clubs under the same ownership, to ensure that the fee has not been inflated as a way to pump more money into the club.

The paper’s article says that should the transfer not be deemed to be ‘fair market value’ the figure in Watford’s accounts will be adjusted to reflect what is determined to be the true value. If this is the case, Watford will also have to pay the costs for the EFL to have a third-party devise the valuation.

In response Watford's technical director Ben Manga said: “The story says nothing other than repeating the rules relating to transfers involving related parties.

“Of course we expect the EFL to examine all transactions. This is normal.”

He added: “Kamara was independently valued in Italy as it’s a related party transaction, so it’s already been assessed.”