Watford FC pulled off a coup with Carlisle United transfer – he scored 41 goals and raked in £3.5m.

Watford won the lottery when they bought a striker from Carlisle United in the summer of 2009.

Carlisle were desperate in 2009 to keep their top striker, Danny Graham, who had scored 29 goals in League One over two seasons in Cumbria, enabling the club reach the play-offs in 2008 and avoid relegation the following season. However, the then-23-year-old turned down the offer of a new contract at Brunton Park because he wanted to move up during the summer transfer window. Watford had recently finished 13th in the Championship, and with Tamas Priskin and Tommy Smith’s futures in doubt, the club was looking for a new striker for the 2009/10 season.

Graham joined Watford in July 2009 after his contract with Carlisle expired, with a compensation sum of £350,000 ultimately decided by a tribunal. Priskin and Smith then moved Ipswich Town and Portsmouth, respectively, before the transfer window closed, giving Graham the opportunity to become the Hornets’ main man up front.

Graham starred at Vicarage Road

Graham made an immediate impact at Watford, scoring six goals in his first nine Championship games, before finishing the season with 14 league goals. His second season was even more successful than his first, as he scored an incredible 24 goals in the second tier and earned the division’s Golden Boot. Graham was also chosen to the 2010/11 Championship PFA Team of the Year and voted Watford Player of the Season, capping off a memorable season for the striker. Unfortunately for Watford, even with an in-form Graham up front, they finished 16th and 14th during his two seasons there, so despite the fact he had penned a new deal in September 2010, there was always going to be a risk that another club would try and secure his services during the summer of 2011.

Graham signed for newly promoted Premier League team Swansea City for a cost of £3.5 million in June 2011, ending his time at Watford, where he scored 41 goals in all competitions.

Watford pulled off a coup by signing Graham

Given that Watford signed Graham for a compensation sum and sold him for £3.5 million, it’s fair to say that bringing him to Vicarage Road from Carlisle was a huge coup, especially given that he also scored 38 goals in the Championship. He went on to have a solid career in the top flight with Swansea, Hull City, and Sunderland before joining Blackburn Rovers and scoring regularly in the Championship.

Graham scored 24 goals for Watford during the 2010/11 season, making it the highest-scoring season of his career, and he fondly remembers his time at Vicarage Road, according to an interview with The Athletic in 2019. “I had two of the best years of my career there,” Graham explained.

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