The release of Watford’s squad numbers earlier this week showed a number nine shirt still on the peg, waiting to be filled.

Various names have been linked with the club through the summer, but so far only Rhys Healey has been added to the attacking options and he has number 14.

So naturally many people are expecting a new arrival to take the number nine slot, and Valerien Ismael said work was ongoing to make that happen.

“The striker position is not a problem just for Watford, it is difficult for all the clubs to find the right player,” he explained.

“Certainly on your desk every day you get a lot of names, but we want to go another way. We have to make sure the players we take have the right mentality, are able to understand what we want, to know the Championship.

“It’s difficult but not impossible. We have ambition for sure, and we are seeking with the board, working closely together every day to find the right solution.

“We speak every day, and pre-season was there for us to see how we play, how we create chances.

“We scored a lot of goals in pre-season but it’s not only goals, it’s depth. If something happens are you able to cover the position – if not, shall we do something, one or two players in that position.”

Although the entry door at the training ground may have a little rust around the hinges, the exit door has barely been still.

More than 20 players have been sold, released or gone back to their parent clubs after a loan spell.

The head coach used the word ‘satisfied’ more than once when talking about the squad he currently has.

“We are satisfied so far with our squad.

“I think that all the players that were outgoing was a clear decision from us, with the board. We knew exactly what we wanted to do.

“We knew that we needed to change a lot, and there is the transition situation at the minute. But we still have good players in the squad, and enough quality.

“Pre-season was good because we had high availability of players, and that means we’ve worked almost every week with all the players. That means they improve week in, week out.

“At the minute I am satisfied with our players. It’s clear that behind the scenes we are still working on some positions.

“But the start of the season will help us to have a clear overview of the squad, the players, the positioning.

“You never know what can happen – a big injury can change a lot of things.

“So we are working behind the scenes and we want to assess the players, and give rewards to those who made a great pre-season so far.

“I think the start of the season will give us some signs. We scored a lot of goals in pre-season, we created a lot of chances in pre-season.

“Now it’s about how we start in the league games.

“Regardless of what happens tomorrow we know we have to do our business, and we have to add some players to the squad.

“But also we need games to assess properly and to see exactly in which positions we need to do something.”