Watford have taken their number of summer signings to 16 with the addition of four more Udinese loanees.

The Italian club confirmed this morning that Cristian Battocchio had joined the Hornets on loan and this afternoon the Championship club added highly-rated Chelsea defender Nathaniel Chalobah – signings 11 and 12 since the Pozzos’ takeover.

And tonight Udinese have announced that Neuton Sergio Piccoli, Joel Ekstrand, Fernando Forestieri and Jean-Alain Fanchone have joined Watford on loan.

Fanchone has been with the Hornets all week, as previously reported by the Watford Observer, and was joined by Battocchio today. Now the pair will have three more Udinese team-mates at the London Colney training base.

Fanchone, 23, is a left back who joined Udinese from RC Strasbourg in January and was on trial with another of the Pozzos’ clubs, Granada, earlier this summer.

Like Battocchio, Forestieri was at Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys in his early teens and signed for Udinese from Genoa in 2009.

The 22-year-old, who predominantly plays as a forward or behind the front man, has featured for most of Italy’s age groups up until Under-21 level and has spent the majority of the last three years out on loan.

Last season he was at Serie B side Bari and scored twice in 30 appearances, the year before he scored three times in 20 outings for Empoli in the same division, and in the 2009/10 campaign he netted once in 20 outings for La Liga side Malaga. He has yet to play for Udinese’s first team.

Neuton is a 22-year-old centre back who can also play at left back or in defensive midfield.

He joined Udinese from Brazillian side Gremio in 2011 but only made nine appearances for the Italian club last season, although five of those were in Europe and included two starts against Arsenal in Champions League qualifying.

As for Ekstrand, he is a 23-year-old Swedish centre back who started his career at Helsinborg.

He joined Udinese in January 2011 and made 19 appearances for Udinese last season; seven of those coming in Europe and he also played in both games against the Gunners.

One player linked with a move away from Watford is centre back Martin Taylor, who has captained the side in recent matches.

The Watford Observer understands Sheffield Wednesday have been keen on the defender for more than a month and there are reports the Championship side are set to make a move before the transfer window closes at 11pm tonight.

The Hornets will not be in a rush to offload today, however, as the loan window reopens for British clubs next week.