Watford are hoping to tie midfield lynchpin Abdoulaye Doucoure down to a new five year deal in a bid to ward off interest in his signature, reports the Sun.
The 24-year-old has established himself as a key man under Marco Silva for the Hornets and his good performances have not gone unnoticed.
A number of parties have cast watchful eyes over Vicarage Road with Doucoure, along with Richarlison, attracting plenty of interest from top teams.
Watford now hope to keep the midfielder at the club and ward off potential interest in Doucoure with a new contract that would see him move level with Troy Deeney as the club’s top earner.
What’s more, Doucoure has a little over two years left to run on his current deal at Watford and the Premier League side are wary of that ticking down that would see them forced to sell their key man.
The Malian midfielder has scored six goals for Watford this season to return a WhoScored rating of 7.19 and has won possession on the midfield third more times (102) than any other Premier League player.
