Watford are ready to sell captain Troy Deeney and want to replace him with Bournemouth striker Benik Afobe, reports The Daily Mail.
Deeney’s position at Watford has been uncertain since Marco Silva was appointed manager over the summer and now the Portuguese has ran out of patience with the 29-year-old.
Silva was forced to reprimand Deeney for comments he made about Arsenal after Watford beat them 2-1 midway through October and the Hornets have only won three of the resulting 14 matches since then.
Not only that, but Deeney has been sent off and hit with a retrospective four-game ban in that time.
The Watford No.9 signed a reported £70,000-a-week five-year deal with Watford in 2016 after the Hornets turned down a £20m offer from Leicester and that could prove a major stumbling block in their bid to shift the forward.
Silva has already lined up Afobe as his preferred replacement for Deeney as the former Arsenal academy graduate has dropped down the pecking order for the Cherries this season.
Afobe has only started five Premier League games this season following the return to fitness of Callum Wilson and has failed to score a league goal thus far.
In the last three Premier League campaigns, Deeney has lost at least 61 more aerial duels than any other player (548).
