Tottenham Hotspur confirm sale of Etienne Capoue to Watford

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Etienne Capoue has left White Hart Lane to join Premier League newcomers Watford, both clubs confirmed on Monday (6 July).

The versatile 26-year-old, also capable of playing at centre-back, succeeds Nathan Ellington as Watford's club-record signing after penning a four-year contract at Vicarage Road for an undisclosed fee reported by The Guardian, said to be in the region of £6.3m ($9.7m).

Capoue was signed by then Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas from Ligue 1 outfit Toulouse in a £9m deal back in August 2013, yet made just eight Premier League starts during his debut season in English football after sustaining an ankle injury during the 1-0 defeat to rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

After struggling to impose himself during Tim Sherwood's reign, the France international also proved largely surplus to requirements under Mauricio Pochettino last term and appeared just 18 times in all competitions.

While Capoue's move to Watford has been confirmed, nothing yet has been made clear with regards to the possibility of Benjamin Stambouli following his former teammate and compatriot to Hertfordshire.

Sky Sports reported fees had been agreed between the two clubs for the sale of both midfielders, although it was made clear that an agreement with Stambouli was not imminent and negotiations over personal terms were still ongoing.

Like Capoue, Stambouli has been largely overlooked at Tottenham since joining from Montpellier and looks set to move on after less than a year at White Hart Lane.

New faces at Watford

Watford have already made three new additions since promotion was secured by virtue of a second-place Championship finish, with Matej Vydra finally joining on a permanent basis after two separate successful loan spells, Sebastian Prodl arriving from Werder Bremen and Lithuanian Giedrius Arlauskis signed on a free transfer following his departure from Romanian treble winners Steaua Bucharest.

Jose Holebas was also confirmed as a Watford player at the start of July, although it is unclear if that transfer will still go through after the full-back appeared to suggest to gazzeta.gr that he had been sold without his knowledge while on holiday in Dubai and had not yet signed a contract.

Capoue is the third first-team player sold by Tottenham in the past week. Lewis Holtby joined Hamburg, while another midfielder in Paulinho was sold to Guangzhou Evergrande of the Chinese Super League.