Mazzarri delighted for Watford’s record signing but says Success may depend on defending

Watford manager Walter Mazzarri believes Isaac Success’ first goal in English football was just reward for all of his hard work this season but has told the youngster he must improve defensively.

The 20-year-old was linked with a host of clubs in the summer, including big European teams such as Atletico Madrid, PSG, Valencia and Inter Milan.

But Success moved to Vicarage Road in the summer for a club-record fee of around £12.5million from the Hornets’ former sister side Granada, who had signed him from his native Nigeria in early 2014.

Granada’s 2015/16 Player of the Year was a regular strike partner of Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho at international youth level and recently received his first senior call-up before injury ruled him out of this week’s World Cup qualifier with Zambia.

Success has impressed during his five outings for the Hornets this season and on Saturday scored his first goal against Bournemouth.

But he has yet to start a game as Watford continue to rely on their long-standing partnership of Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo.

Isaac Success goes close to opening his Watford account against West Ham earlier this season. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

“He is an excellent player and he has showed it in the past, not only against Bournemouth,” Mazzarri said.

“He can improve a lot in defensive parts, but he deserves it because every time he’s come on he’s showed he can help the team.”

On the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth, Mazzarri added: “The most important thing for me was how we would react, and overall I’m happy with how the team performed.

“I was disappointed because they scored on the first chance they had, and we didn’t deserve to go one down. But playing the way we were doing, I thought we would come back.

“There were moments where if we were more concentrated then it would have been three points, but we played much better than we did against Burnley so I’m happy with one point.”