Watford's board sacked manager Javi Gracia over his reluctance to play new signings.

Sky Sports says the Pozzo family are also understood to have been worried about Gracia's aversion to playing new £40m club-record signing Ismaila Sarr and free transfer Danny Welbeck.

The pair made just one sub appearance each - both during the 3-1 home defeat to West Ham - as the Hornets suffered three defeats and a draw in their first four games.

Watford sacked Gracia - their ninth appointment since the Pozzo family bought the club in 2012 - last week just months after he took them to the FA Cup final and just shy of a year since he signed a new four-year contract.

Quique Sanchez Flores has now returned for his second spell in charge.