Emmanuel Dennis: Another ‘Missionary Journey’ Looms

Since moving to Europe in 2016, he had gone on to play for four different clubs and when he seems to have found a home at Vicarage Road, another move is in the offing for Emmanuel Dennis. His joining Watford from Club Brugge has proven to be a good buy contributing to more than half of the Hornet’s goals so far this season. However, after just a season at Watford, Dennis may begin another ‘missionary journey’ except the Yellow Army somehow escape being relegated to the Championship and with Spanish side, Villarreal lurking

Premier League strugglers, Watford may be bidding goodbye to their jewel, Emmanuel Dennis at the end of the season after just one season except the Hornets manage to avoid relegation.

The Super Eagles striker joined Watford from Club Brugge last summer on a five-year deal worth £4.5m and with the Yellow Army currently placed 18th in the Premier League table with 22 points from 29 games and just three points off safety the 24-year-old Nigerian may be looking elsewhere at the end of the season.

The former Cologne star has taken the Premier League by storm this season, scoring nine goals and registering five assists in 27 league matches, directly involved in almost half of Watford’s goals this term.

Indeed, his performance has caught the eye of a number of big clubs, including Spanish LaLiga side, Villarreal, according to a report on Daily Mail.

The club will consider offloading several players if they are unable to avoid relegation in a bid to lower their wage bill and will demand for a fee of £25m for the Nigerian international.

Dennis has emerged as one of the bargain signings of the summer transfer window, with Watford paying four million euros to Club Brugge to sign the striker.

West Ham captain Mark Noble had labelled Dennis’ early strike in the Hammers’ 4-1 rout of Watford a great goal when the Hornets suffered their fifth successive loss in the Premier League despite their Nigerian talisman giving them the lead.

Dennis fired a rising shot into the top corner to break the deadlock after evading the challenge of Craig Dawson, taking his tally in the top-flight to eight goals in the process.

Speaking to BBC Sport post-match, the Hammers captain said: “They started with a great goal for Dennis but then I think we controlled the half and deserved to go 2-1 up.”

Only Liverpool’s Egypt winger Mohamed Salah has had more goal involvements than Dennis in the Premier League so far this season.

Indeed, Arsenal icon Ian Wright has highlighted the importance of Dennis to the Watford side after the red-hot striker scored again in a 4-1 loss to West Ham United in a Premier League clash at Vicarage Road.

With his strike against the Hammers, the Nigerian international has been directly involved in 10 goals in his last eight Premier League games for the Hornets (six goals, four assists), having a hand in 66.7 per cent of the goals Watford have scored in these games.

Statistically, those numbers clearly show Dennis’ importance to Watford, who could be without their talisman for at least three matches in the coming weeks.

Speaking on Premier League Productions’ Premier League Wrap, Wright said: “At the start Tim Sherwood mentioned that Dennis is the one if anything could happen it’s probably going to come from him.

“That’s beautifully taken, composure, he’s not rushing that.

“He’s going to be sorely missed when he goes to the AFCON because that’s exactly what Watford need.”

Dennis was called up by Nigeria for AFCON and the 24-year-old was due to meet up with his national side after New Year’s Day but was denied by Watford in their quest to battle relegation with

the Hornets’ erstwhile boss Claudio Ranieri saying Nigeria failed to send a ‘pre-call’ before a specific deadline.

A Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) statement had said Dennis had been excused because Watford were “baring fangs”.

“Of course he wanted to go to play for Nigeria but he also wanted to help Watford,” Ranieri had said.

Dennis was part of  the Super Eagles team that failed to qualify Nigeria to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after playing a lacklustre 1-1 draw with Ghana at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.

Before the return leg of their World Cup play-off against Ghana on Tuesday, the former Brugge striker said he was prepared to leave “his blood and sweat on the pitch”.

“These games are the biggest games of my life and my career. We must go all out for our country. It’s do or die. Players must be ready to drop our blood and sweat on the pitch to qualify for the World Cup,” Dennis told BBC Sport Africa.

“I’ve never thought in my head that we didn’t qualify. Impossible. If I’m going to die on the pitch, let me die playing for my people,” Dennis added.

“You play this tournament one time every four years, and before the four years, you don’t even know what can happen. You can even die before the next one.

“You might not even be playing football. So many things can happen. So, if you get the opportunity, you need to write history. We have to come out and give everything.

“We don’t need all the criticism as we must all come together as one to support the players, the country and make sure we are the ones going to the World Cup and not our opponent.

“Did you see the crowd at our training session? You could see how happy they were to come watch us train,” Dennis said.

“We cannot let them down. They should not panic but believe in us because we are going to leave it all on the pitch for them.”

Even Dennis’ Watford teammate, William Troost-Ekong had backed him to score against Ghana.

“I think you can look at it in two ways. We have players known to score goals, including Emmanuel Dennis and Odion Ighalo and I would back all of them,” Troost-Ekong had said.

“I think they are going to feel even more challenged to score and show everyone that they can do that.”

But it was not to be as it was the Black Stars that booked the ticket to Qatar.