We live in a cynical age, where impassioned conclusions can be made from scarce evidence in which 2 + 2 = 5. But sometimes, such cynicism is justified when the evidence is irrefutable. Which brings us nicely to the multi-club ownership scheme of the Pozzo family, with patriarch Giampaolo owning a majority stake in Italian side Udinese and his son, Gino, the controlling stakeholder of Watford in the English Championship.
Nothing to see here, you might think. But what if we told you that, since 2012, more than 60 transfers have been made between the two clubs – sometimes at remarkably inflated fees? Cynics might suggest that the Pozzos are using their multi-club ownership to effectively move money between the sides, ensuring they meet financial fair play obligations by gaming the transfer system when required.
It’s hard to explain the January transfers of goalkeeper Egil Selvik any other way. On January 10, 2025, the Norwegian joined Udinese. Just 21 days later, he had been sold to Watford for an ‘undisclosed’ fee. Selvik isn’t the first to be subject to some shady goings on between the two Pozzo-owned clubs, and no doubt he won’t be the last. So, what is the Pozzo family up to? How are they allowed to game the transfer market in this way? Is there anything that can be done about it?
Significant Mark Up
Yeah, right. For what I paid he should have had 30 by now. #PlaysWhenHeWants https://t.co/Z374UJ5VbF
— Gino Pozzo (@GinoPozzo65) April 20, 2023
The Pozzo family made their millions from the Freud tool-making business, which afforded Giampaolo the financial wealth to acquire a controlling stake in Udinese back in 1986. They’ve suffered promotions, relegations, betting scandals and controversies since, but that wasn’t enough to put off the patriarch of the Pozzo clan, who acquired a majority shareholding in Watford in 2012.
Hassane Kamara
Two years, Giampaolo passed ownership of the Hornets onto Gino, and that’s when the fun and games really began. Exhibit A: Hassane Kamara. In January 2022, he joined Watford from Nice for a fee of £3.6 million. By that July, he was, somehow, now worth £16 million – the amount that Udinese paid for his services. The Italian club then loaned Kamara back to Watford, meaning that the English outfit had profited to the tune of £12.4 million on the player and still got to deploy his services on the pitch. Nice business, that.
So shady was the deal that the EFL have been called to investigate whether or not the transfer fee paid was inflated. These multi-club ownership transfers don’t break any rules, but when ‘fair market values’ of the players involved are distorted, that’s when sanctions can be dished out.
Odion Ighalo
Besides which, that isn’t the only Watford-Udinese switch that has raised eyebrows. During the 2014/15 season, the Hornets took Odion Ighalo on loan from the Italian side nicknamed I Bianconeri. That took Watford up to the maximum of four loan players in their squad, so the Pozzos came up with a smart ruse. The loan was cancelled, before Ighalo’s contract was torn up by Udinese that very same day.
Vakoun Bayo
All of which allowed Watford to sign the striker as a free agent, while freeing up a slot in their squad for another loan player. Fast forward to the summer of 2024 and the talented forward, Vakoun Bayo, is sold by Watford to Udinese. The fee is described as ‘undisclosed’, although those in the know suggest that the Italians were forced to overpay for the 28-year-old. Bako was then immediately loaned back to the Hornets.
Christian Kabasele
The notion of fair market value is challenged with each new Pozzo family deal. Christian Kabasele was acquired by Udinese for £5.5 million in the summer of 2023 – despite TransferMrkt, the independent transfer valuator, claiming that the player was worth barely value £1 million at the time.
Gerard Deulofeu
Question marks were also raised by the fees paid in other Watford to Udinese deals, including Gerard Deulofeu (fee of £14.2 million, market value of £10 million), Maduka Okoye (fee of £5 million, market value of £1.6 million) and Adalberto Penaranda (fee of £8.9 million, market value of £420,000). Meanwhile Matej Vydra, who was twice loaned by Udinese to Watford, would eventually head to England on a permanent deal worth £7 million… from a market worth of £4.6 million.
Roberto Peyrera
Udinese got a bargain in September 2020 in the shape of Roberto Peyrera, who they acquired from Watford for just £1 million (market value of £7.5 million)… despite the fact that he had played 28 times for them in the Premier League during the 2019/20 campaign. And then we have the fascinating case of Gabriele Angella, who was signed on a free transfer by the Hornets after he was released from the Italian club. Three years later, the defender was released by Watford… and snapped up by Udinese on a free just a day later.
Fair Market Value
Football’s transfer rules are blighted by loopholes, but the Premier League – as just one authority – has attempted to close one of these via the use of fair market values for players. Whenever two ‘associated parties’, i.e. teams in a multi-club ownership pyramid, complete a transfer between themselves, the details of the transaction must be presented to the Premier League’s board.
They will then undertake an independent assessment of the deal, determining whether the size of the transfer fee paid is appropriate, relevant and comparable to recent transfers involving a similar standard of player at a correlating level of football. Where the Premier League believes that a transfer has not been completed at a fair market value, it has the power to force the buying club to pay more/less, depending on the nature of the deal, or even cancel the transfer altogether.
At the time of writing, Watford are under the auspices of the EFL, rather than the Premier League, so the rules governing their dealings with Udinese are slightly different. But if they do get promoted back to the top tier of English football in the near future, it could put an end to the controversial transfers between the two clubs.
