Daniel Bachmann has a successful season behind him. The ÖFB regional kept Kilmarnock’s goal in the Scottish Premier League and helped the underdog to third place and a qualifying ticket for the Europa League. At the same time, he recommended himself to his home club, FC Watford, where he will be striving for the role of goalkeeper in the coming season.
“I’ve had some offers. Many of them were blocked directly by Watford, and in some cases I didn’t even know anything about them,” says Bachmann in an interview with SOCCERSCORE, giving insights into the negotiations with the Hornets. “99 percent of them won’t let me go. Even now there are still a few conversations, but my full focus is on Watford. This year, my claim is a completely different one. I want to play. The club knows that too.”
The 25-year-old moved from the Austria Academy to the youth department of Stoke City in summer 2011. When he was promoted to the professional squad there, he was awarded a total of three times, for a compulsory match in the fighting team it should not be enough.
In summer 2017 he moved to Watford, where he recently signed a contract until summer 2021. “You can’t guarantee that I’ll be number one at the beginning. But I will come to my missions”, the Viennese native is sure.
He also had to wait a few weeks last season before he became number one at Kilmarnock in November. “And in the end, the season wasn’t so bad. I am positive that I will prevail in the coming months.”
The roles of the goalkeepers in the Watford squad seem clearly distributed. Ben Foster is expected to be the goalkeeper at the start of the season. Replacement keeper Heurelio Gomes announced the end of his career in spring, but extended his contract for another season a few weeks ago.
“I know Gomes well. I was not surprised that what he said to the media was not entirely true,” says Bachmann with a twinkle in his eye. The Brazilian will probably not get over a role as a substitute.
Pontus Dahlberg is yet another goalkeeper in the professional squad. “He’s trying to go on a loan. So far he hasn’t found anything suitable, but as the fourth goalkeeper you don’t really want to go into a season,” Bachmann knows.
Bachmann was “very surprised” when asked about his role in the ÖFB national team. “I was disappointed I wasn’t in the squad against Slovenia and Northern Macedonia.” Already in March 2017 Bachmann completes a training course in the ÖFB team for the first time under the then team boss Marcel Koller.
Franco Foda was in telephone contact with Bachmann and visited him at an away match against Celtic in Glasgow. Foda’s colleagues watched him on further missions, but he was not called.
“That’s football, it’s a coaching decision,” said Bachmann, who is currently only number four in the ÖFB team behind Heinz Lindner, Pavao Pervan and Cican Stankovic.
In addition to Bachmann, Sebastian Prödl is another England regional in the squad of FC Watford. The central defender had to undergo a knee arthroscopy last winter and was out for the entire spring.
“He’s halfway fit again. He’s training and his knee is holding at the moment,” said Bachmann about his teammate, who will be with Watford for another two years. The Styrian completed his last compulsory game with the Hornets in October 2018.
Watford travelled to Going on Sunday, where the team has a one-week training camp. “We have some cool test game opponents waiting for us,” Bachmann said with a reference to the upcoming duels with Champions League semi-finalist Ajax (18 July) and Bayer Leverkusen (20 July).
