Heurelho Gomes, the former keeper recently confirmed as a Hornets Ambassador, was delighted to see his old club bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking this season, with two of his close friends playing a huge part in the success.
The Brazilian trained daily alongside Ben Foster and Daniel Bachmann during his time at Watford and felt proud watching the pair keep 23 league clean sheets between them as the team finished in the Championship’s second automatic promotion spot.
“That’s a lot of clean sheets!” said Gomes. “It’s amazing to see Watford has two top-class goalkeepers. These are two goalkeepers I used to work with. Ben was always very close to Dan and is still very close to him now. I know he’s the type of player who will be very happy to see you perform well. Ben Foster was playing week in, week out, then Danny came in and had a great season as well. When you see a player like Ben Foster supporting Dan like that, you see the club and the group are in the right direction.”
Foster is a veteran with more than 500 career appearances, while Bachmann, 26, is relatively young for a goalkeeper and was awarded his first chance as Watford’s No.1 during the second half of this campaign, having joined the club back in 2017.
“It was so difficult for Dan because he was waiting for such a long time to have his opportunity, and he has taken it, he’s grabbed it with both hands,” said Gomes. “Ben had an injury and had such a long time to return, and when you return and see a goalkeeper performing like Dan was doing, he just needs to do what he did, support him all the way. I was so happy for the players. When you see a group like that, united, it’s great.”
Gomes called time on his career last summer but has continued to follow the team closely. Following the heartache of relegation, he has been cheering the team on fiercely for another promotion, having been between the sticks during the last one in 2014/15.
“I was following the games, or I was watching the highlights of pretty much every game,” said the Brazilian. “I received a text from Adam Masina after the promotion and he said: ‘That was for you’. I felt so bad when we got relegated because that wasn’t the way I wanted to finish my job there. To be honest, I feel so happy because the club is up again. The players and the people who work there deserve so much.”
This time Watford are returning to the top flight after only a year away, and Gomes thinks this both shows the mentality of the group and also puts them in good stead for their return.
“It’s so hard mentally when you go down, but they kept so strong because they have tough character, good character,” said Gomes. “The club deserves this, to go back to the Premier League, and I’ll continue to support in the Premier League as well. The circumstances are different because the club has experience in the Premier League now more than ever. I believe we can do an even better job than before. It’s not easy, I always say the Premier League is not easy, but in these days the club is much more prepared for this big task.”
