Watford midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru will have surgery this week and has been ruled out for six months due to a knee injury sustained at the weekend.

Dele-Bashiru, 21, damaged an anterior cruciate ligament during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Reading in his first league start for the Hornets.

Watford skipper Tom Cleverley told the club’s official website: “It’s a massive blow for him and also for us as a team, he was really learning fast and was going to be an important player for us this season.”

Dele-Bashiru, who has made five appearances for Watford in all competitions, made his debut off the bench in a Carabao Cup win against Coventry in August 2019 after joining from Manchester City the previous month.

Gerard Deulofeu has joined Udinese on loan for the rest of the season, while Hornets duo Adalberto Penaranda and Jerome Sinclair will spend the remainder of the campaign on loan at Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia.