Flores won’t discuss Watford contract until summer

Mark Holmes
Quique Sanchez Flores: Won't discuss Watford contract until summer

Quique Sanchez Flores: Won't discuss Watford contract until summer

Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores has no plans to discuss an extension to his contract until the Premier League season has finished in May.

Flores took over at Vicarage Road in the summer and has guided his side to the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley and is on the brink of securing their top-flight status for next season.

The Spaniard said: “I don’t like to talk about contracts when we are in the most important part of the season. I am happy and really comfortable here.

“So it isn’t the time to talk about the contract. We will do that at the end of May with the owner.

“The owner and the staff are always in synergy. That is the most important thing.

“I am pleased with the fans of Watford and I know how they support the team and support me.”

Watford can reach the magical 40-point mark many see as the benchmark for Premier League survival on Saturday when they face Stoke at Vicarage Road, but the Hornets boss is not seeing it as a milestone where they can relax.

Flores said: “We need to compete in every game. We need to improve every game, that is the most important thing

“We are always going to the pitch to play better than the last match.

“I do not know if we need one, two, six points but we want to add more points than possible until the end of the season.

“Stoke are strong, they have a lot of energy and they want to add more points. The season is not over, we are in two competitions, the feeling is very nice.

“The fans are enjoying the feeling of this season in the Premier League and the FA Cup.”

The Hornets won 2-0 in the match between the sides at the Britannia Stadium in October, but Flores knows they will be a tough opponent.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference he said: “They are a really strong team.

“They have really good players, their midfielders and strikers are really competitive, they have very special players with skill and power.

“They have a lot of characteristics in their attack, so we need to be clever, we need to try to stop the best reference of this team, and then play like a team and try to have a very good performance.

“I played matches against Mark Hughes when I was at Valencia and he was at Barcelona, but now he is a good manager, he has tried to change the players and he improved the style of Stoke a lot.

“He has signed very good players, he is a good manager and he will be out to beat us.”

Flores says he will have to make last-minute decisions on “three or four” of his players including Odion Ighalo for the clash with the Potters.

The club’s top goalscorer came off in the Hornets’ 2-1 win against Arsenal in the FA Cup last weekend after suffering a knock and has been struggling with a muscular injury in training.

Miguel Britos and Joel Ekstrand are both unavailable due to hamstring injuries.