Watford beat Championship rivals West Brom over Hamza Choudhury transfer race from Leicester on one-year loan deal

WATFORD have beaten Championship rivals West Brom to sign Hamza Choudhury on a one-year loan deal.

The promotion chasing pair shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns on Monday night.

But the Hornets beat the Baggies to sign Leicester City's former England Under-21 international in a major coup for Watford boss Rob Edwards.

Choudhury won the FA Cup with Leicester in 2021 but has fallen from favour with Brendan Rodgers and wants to kick-start his career with regular football in the Championship. 

Missing out on Choudhury will frustrate Albion manager Steve Bruce, who made an unsuccessful bid to bring the midfield battler to Newcastle United when he was in charge at St James' Park.

Leicester need to offload a number of fringe players this summer as they battle to hold on to stars such as James Maddison, who is wanted by Newcastle.

Chelsea are poised with an £80million offer for Wesley Fofana, while Arsenal have been consistently linked with a move for Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans.

The 24-year-old Choudhury, who has played more than 80 times for the Foxes, has been with the club since 2005 having joined the academy at the age of seven.

However Choudhury only made 12 appearances in all competitions for the Foxes last season and is now ready for a new chapter in his career as he looks to show what he can do for Watford.

For the first time since joining Leicester from Celtic in 2019, Rodgers is facing real scrutiny from fans. A 2-2 opening weekend draw with Brentford did not help matters.

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The club narrowly missed out on the Champions League two seasons in a row.

They then finished eighth last season and many are fearful this time around things will only get worse, with the club so far failing to make any summer signings.