- 24 Dec 2024
Watford sign former AZ Alkmaar youngster Tiago Cukur till 2022
Cameron Smith
- Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
- 2 min read
Watford have announced the signing of 18-year-old Tiago Cukur, with the forward joining the club’s academy system on a contract until the summer of 2022.
Cukur left AZ Alkmaar’s youth set-up last summer, and has also spent time with Feyernoord in his short career.
He is yet to make a senior appearance, and is viewed as an option for the future, with Omer Riza, the senior development phase coach for Watford’s U23s, saying: “I got a call about this young lad in Holland so we got him in.
“We had a look at him and from the first minute we clapped eyes on him, we saw the qualities he had. He can hold it up well, he’s got a great touch under pressure, is a really good size at 6ft 3in and is good in the air.
“He can make a pass with his head, like Troy Deeney does, and you can count on him to finish. He needs work, like all young players do, but he could be a really good prospect for this club.”
Watford fans will be hoping Cukur will be able to recreate Deeney’s time at the club, with the Englishman having scored 137 goals in 410 games for the Hornets.
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Cukur scored six and grabbed one assist in 14 games for AZ Alkmaar in the U17 Eredivisie in 2018/19, but hasn’t regularly played since then.
He has signed a deal until 2022 at Vicarage Road, with the option of a further year also included.
The Watford first-team currently sit sixth in the Championship, as they look to make an immediate return to the Premier League.
