Troy Deeney

 ( 1988 Births ) 

At the beginning of the 2011–12 campaign, Deeney initially found it hard to acquire a starting spot in the team as many of his early season matches saw him consigned to a bench role. He soon found his way into the starting eleven and amassed a total of 46 appearances under the management of Sean Dyche in his preferred position as striker. In March, Deeney signed a new contract to the end of the 2012–13 season. He finished 2011–12 as Watford's top goalscorer with 12 goals in all competitions and also won the Goal of the Season Award for his goal against Ipswich Town in March 2012.

In March 2013, Deeney signed a new contract with Watford, keeping him at the club until 2016. Deeney netted another brace in a 4–0 win over Blackburn Rovers on 20 April 2013, taking his tally to 18 for the season. Six days later, he scored his 19th goal of the season in the next match against Leicester, scoring the first goal in an important 2–1 away win for Watford.

On 12 May 2013, Watford faced Leicester City in the play-off semi-final second leg at Vicarage Road, having lost the first leg 1–0 at the King Power Stadium. One of the most dramatic moments in play-off history occurred in injury time. With the scores level on aggregate at 2–2, Manuel Almunia saved a penalty taken by Anthony Knockaert and a rebound. Watford subsequently charged to the other end, where Deeney lashed in the winning goal; ecstatic, he Goal celebration by taking his shirt off and jumping into the crowd. On 27 May, Deeney started for the play-off final against Crystal Palace, which Watford lost 1–0 in extra-time.

After scoring 20 goals in the 2012–13 season, Deeney scored the only goal as Watford beat Birmingham City 1–0 in the opening match of the 2013–14 season. A week later on 10 August, Deeney scored a hat-trick as Watford thrashed AFC Bournemouth 6–1 at Vicarage Road. In doing so, he became the first Watford player to score a hat-trick in a match since Michael Chopra in 2003, and the first one to do so at Vicarage Road since David Connolly on 7 December 1996. It was also Deeney's first career hat-trick.

Netting a brace in a 4–1 win away against Sheffield Wednesday on 29 March 2014, Deeney took his 2013–14 season tally to 20 goals. In the process, he became the first Watford player to score 20 or more goals in consecutive seasons in all competitions since Luther Blissett managed the feat in 1983.

Deeney scored again, this time against Burnley in a 1–1 draw on 5 April 2014, to become the first Watford player to score 20 league goals in consecutive seasons since Cliff Holton managed the feat in 1961. The striker won both the Watford Player of the Season award for 2013–14 and also won the Players' Player of the Year at the end of season awards on 2 May 2014.

Following the departure of Manuel Almunia, Deeney was named the Watford captain by manager Giuseppe Sannino prior to the 2014–15 campaign. During the course of the 2014–15 Championship season, Deeney helped Watford earn promotion to the Premier League. In the process he became the first player in Watford history to score 20 or more goals in three consecutive seasons (2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15).

On 1 July 2016, Deeney signed a new five-year deal with Watford. He opened his 2016–17 goalscoring account on 10 September at West Ham United's new home venue, the London Stadium, equalising in a 4–2 comeback victory. Deeney scored his 100th Watford goal in all competitions on 26 December 2016 with a penalty in a 1–1 home draw against Crystal Palace, ending a ten-match goalless run. He became the fifth player to reach a century of goals for Watford. Since summer 2018 he has given up gambling entirely and alcohol in weeks Watford are playing.

In April 2019 Deeney (and Watford team-mates Adrian Mariappa and Christian Kabasele) were subjected to racist comments on social media.

In May 2020, following the Premier League's suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Deeney initially refused to return to non-contact training with his teammates. He said he did not wish to put his five-month-old child at risk, who has breathing difficulties, saying "it only takes one person to get infected within the group and I don't want to be bringing that home." Deeney eventually returned to training and captained Watford in their first game back against Leicester City, playing the full 90 minutes. On 11 July, he scored two second-half penalties to come from behind and win at home against Newcastle United, giving Deeney his first goals of the restarted season. Deeney revealed after the game he had been suffering from a right knee injury since the restart, but vowed to see out the end of the season as club captain and try to save Watford from relegation. Following this announcement, Deeney was often substituted in the second half of most games for the remainder of the season to ease the workload on his knee. He scored again in a 3–1 loss against West Ham United on 17 July, later coming off in the second half. In Watford's final game of the season against Arsenal, Deeney played the full 90 minutes and scored a penalty in the first half, but was unable to prevent Watford losing 3–2, finishing in 19th and suffering relegation to the EFL Championship. After this loss, it was highly speculated that Deeney had played his last game for the club; Deeney commented, saying he was "unsure" about his future at Watford.

On 30 August 2021, Deeney left Watford as a free agent after eleven years with the club; he had made 419 appearances for the team and scored 140 goals. He left the club as their top scorer in the Premier League with 47 goals and ranks fourth for most goals scored for Watford in all competitions, behind Luther Blissett (186), Tommy Barnett (163) and Ross Jenkins (142).