Watford have confirmed Gabriele Angella will not leave the club in January and the defender says he is happy to remain at Vicarage Road – although he didn’t rule out a return to his native Italy in the future.

Reports in Italy suggested the 25-year-old could return to Udinese, who he joined the Hornets from in the summer of 2013, in the upcoming transfer window but when asked about a potential switch yesterday he was unequivocal.

Angella said: “I am happy to stay at Watford. Now I have come back from the injury I want to demonstrate my quality because I believe in this project and we want to be champions.

“After we will see, but I want to stay here and go up with this team. This is my objective. Then we will see.

“I am happy and I believe in this project. I know the owner very well so I want to do a great job here.”

Asked if he could return to Italy in future, Angella replied: “I don’t know. Anything is possible. My family are in Italy, so maybe I can return but not now, now I will stay in England.”

Slavisa Jokanovic is the fifth head coach Angella has worked under at Watford in just 17 months at Vicarage Road, and despite concerns of dressing room unrest, the former Italy Under-21 international insists the players are fully behind the former Chelsea midfielder.

He stressed: “I think it is not normal to change coach like we have this year but this is football and we have to work and follow the new coach and what he thinks. We have to look forward and play how he wants.

“Now I am back from the injury, the one month I have been training with the team I think he has good ideas and we have to transform those ideas onto the pitch.”

The 25-year-old from Florence returned from an ankle injury in Watford’s 1-0 defeat at home to Cardiff City a fortnight ago – a match which coincided with a return to the 3-5-2 system used by two of Jokanovic’s predecessors, Beppe Sannino and Gianfranco Zola.

Watford have alternated between playing three and four at the back this season, with Jokanovic first switching to three central defenders for the improved performance against the Bluebirds, before using it once more in the 5-0 win at Craven Cottage on Friday.

And for Angella, who started his Watford career in the central position of the three before moving to one of the two flanking positions, it makes little difference how the defence is configured.

He explained: “For me it is the same because I also played four and three [previously]. I think we can play in both systems if we have a good mentality.

“It is a different position because if you play right or left you have to attack more and stay up. If you stay in the middle you have to speak a lot and cover the other defenders, so for me it is the same whether I play right, left or in the middle.”

Victory at Craven Cottage halted the Hornets’ four-match losing streak and, equally importantly, moved the Golden Boys back into the Championship play-off places.

The Pozzos have assembled another strong squad with the sole ambition of winning promotion, but Angella does not subscribe to the theory Watford’s players are under pressure to deliver Premier League football this season.

The defender said: “It is normal – there is no pressure. We know what the objective is and we have to work towards this because we want to go up this year, but we know it is not easy because there are a lot of very good teams who are very strong.

“We will try to do well, but what is important is the group; if we play all together, and all the players do what they have to do, we can arrive [in the Premier League] soon.”