Former Leicester City boss Nigel Pearson has held talks with Watford.

The Times says Pearson has emerged as a serious contender to replace Quique Sanchez Flores at Watford, with the Premier League club having interviewed him for the vacant manager's position.

The 56-year-old is believed to have been targeted by the league's bottom club, who are seven points adrift of safety, and the report claims that the odds-on bookies' favourite to replace Sanchez Flores met officials from Watford on Thursday.

Pearson has previous experience of helping a side escape deep trouble, having led Leicester City to safety in 2015 after they had been rooted to the foot of the table at Christmas.

Pearson had two tenures at Leicester and has also been employed by the likes of Southampton, Hull City and Derby County during his time in England.