THE Pozzo family have a difficult dilema on their hands. Do they switch their allegiance from Udinese to Watford in an attempt to stay in the Premier League and reap the reward of the financial benefits England’s top flight has to offer?

From their spending during the transfer window, it looks like the Hornets are now their main priority.

Nine players have been signed — two from the Italian club — in an attempt to avoid the drop, while Udinese have only secured deals for two players.

With the amount of money a club can make from staying in the Premier League, it makes sense for the Pozzos to do everything they can to keep Watford among the big boys but it will be a very difficult season.

Last season the club were in free-scoring form, with captain Troy Deeney leading the charge.

Matej Vydra, signed permanently from Udinese, also found it easy to score. But neither are proven at this level for different reasons.

Deeney is yet to make the step up to the Premier League so is an unknown quantity whereas Vydra failed to trouble defences while on loan at West Brom two years ago.

Both will need to bring their form from last season into the current one if the club are to stand any chance of fighting off relegation.

Deeney will especially be eager to continue his fine form as the club could have cashed in on him last season but fought tooth and nail to keep him.

He will need to repay that faith — the club gave him a brand-new five-year contract in the summer — by scoring the goal to keep them up.

In between the sticks, Heurelho Gomes spent five years at Tottenham before dropping down a division to join Watford.

His time at White Hart Lane is often remembered for the mistakes he made and not the saves and he will need to be at his best or Watford could find themselves leaking goals fast.

Another Tottenham player who failed to dazzle in his brief period at the club and now finds himself at Watford is Etienne Capoue.

The French midfielder barely featured in north London so it is unsure what he will bring to their midfield.

A recurring theme, however, seems to be that the club want to take ex-Premier League “failures” — for a lack of a better word — and get the best out of them.

Gomes and Capoue are joined by Ben Watson, who has signed from Wigan, and Valon Behrami, who spent time at West Ham.

If this doesn’t work, the club may struggle to get performances from players who have never played at this high a level.

While the same could be said of Bournemouth and other clubs in the past who kept the squad largely the same, they had managers who were used to the English game.

The constant upheaval in the Watford dugout is not a good trend, regardless if it gained promotion.

Four managers took charge of the Hornets last season and yet the man who guided them up was sacked and replaced just weeks after their promotion.

Enrique Sanchez Flores is now in charge of the club and while he does have an impressive record — he guided Valencia to a Champions League quarter-final and won the Europa League at Atletico Madrid in 2010 — this will be a whole new challenge for him.

Guiding a team to Premier League safety is never easy and given that the owners are notoriously trigger-happy, every loss will bring headlines of Flores being shown the door.

It is a season of uncertainty for Watford. The team are still getting to know each other — as well as the manager — and there will be no time to ease their way into the league.

Everton, Southampton and Manchester City are three of their first four games and they will be lucky to head into September with more than three points.

It looks like it will be a long and arduous season for the Hornets, who will need their sting to be as deadly as ever if they are to survive.