No Room For Sentiment

The England Under-21 striker joined Wanderers in a transfer deadline day move last January and could potentially come up against a number of his close friends on Saturday afternoon.

Though speaking exclusively to the club’s official website at Euxton on Friday morning, the 21-year-old revealed that should he score against the side with whom he spent five successful years his celebrations would be somewhat muted.

“It’s going to be a bit of a strange experience seeing one or two of my old team-mates,” he explained. “Things have changed a lot since I was there in terms of personnel, but that said there are still a lot of people involved with the club I’m close to.

“I made a lot of good friends there and I’m still in touch with a lot of people from the club. I always look out for their results. I wouldn’t celebrate if I was to score because Watford did so much for me.

“A lot of the lads who came through the youth team with me, the likes of Ross Jenkins and Lee Hodson, we were together for about four or five years so we’re really close.

“Though as soon as I cross that white line I’m focussed on doing my job for Bolton Wanderers, regardless of the opponents. It goes without saying that if I’m called upon at any point I’ll be giving it my all to get a victory for the club.”

“Friendships with ex-colleagues go to one side. If I see people I know before or after the match then of course it’ll be nice to catch up with them but the main focus is on winning for Bolton.

"I'm feeling fit and sharp after the recent international break and can't wait to get out there and give it my all when the chance comes my way."

Things have certainly changed since Sordell was last at Vicarage Road. Under new ownership in the shape of the Pozzo family, one of their first moves was to employ fellow Italian Gianfranco Zola as new manager.

A remarkable 16 players signed for the club throughout the summer transfer window and speaking about his former club Sordell added: “I don’t see any reason as to why Watford can’t move forward in the long-run. The new owners have injected a lot of money into the club and they’ve signed some international class players. It gives the Watford fans something to be excited about.

“I do still know a lot of the lads, but obviously with the influx of foreign players that have arrived not many of them have had an opportunity to play in the first team as of yet. I’m not too sure how many of the lads that are going to be playing on Saturday I’ll know, but I’m still looking forward to seeing the ones that are.”

Sordell bagged an impressive ten goals for Watford in the half-season prior to his move and scored his first for Wanderers in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest last month.

“It was nice scoring against Nottingham Forest,” he concluded. “It felt like it had been a long time coming because I’ve not played as many minutes as I would have wanted. Hopefully there are a few more to come.

“I’ve played in this league for a couple of years and know it well. I like to think I’ve got the ability to score goals at this level and I want to show that to the fans.”