Watford have joined the battle for Stevenage defender Ben Wilmot.

The Watford Observer says Wilmot with 14 appearances this term was linked with a moved to Spurs in January, with the Stevenage top brass resigned to losing their prize asset this summer.

The Hornets could move themselves into pole-position for the highly-rated kid with a more realistic path to first team football ahead of the North London duo.

Boro chairman, Phil Wallace, has already confirmed a host of clubs are chasing several of their academy products who have made the step up Darren Sarll's first team squad.

Wallace told the club website: “Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Burnley, Watford, Brighton, Bournemouth and West Brom have all registered interest.

"Our response to every call is the same – we want to continue improving our lads, so we can get the right deal for the club and the right deal for the player.

“That is not likely to be achieved by leaving us at the first sign of interest.

“We are flattered by interest from so many Premier League clubs for our young players, but we want to continue to develop an improving them here for as long as possible."