Oscar Garcia turned down 'big clubs' to manage Watford

New Watford boss Oscar Garcia said he turned down offers from "big clubs" across Europe to take over at Vicarage Road.

The 41-year-old former Brighton manager had reportedly been a target for the Leeds job.

"I had several offers. I was really happy to have these offers," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"Watford has amazing fans and the way the club wants to go made the difference for me to come here."

Garcia took the Seagulls to the Championship play-offs last season, but resigned after the semi-final defeat by Derby to end his first and only season in England.

The Spaniard, a former Barcelona midfielder, returned to Israel in the summer for a second spell in charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv but quit after three months in charge, citing political unrest in the region.

He takes over at Watford from Beppe Sannino, who won four out of five of his league games in charge this season, but appeared to be experiencing a backlash from his players.

The nature of the unrest has been unclear, but it was made apparent by winger Lloyd Dyer who appeared to shout at the Italian after scoring in a 2-0 win over Rotherham.

"I will speak with the players because I want to make sure I know what happened. I will try to solve the problems," Garcia said.

"We've got competition for places. It is good for a manager to have these headaches. But in the Championship there are a lot of good clubs who want to achieve the same as us."

Garcia will become the fourth manager to work under Watford's owners the Pozzo family, after Sean Dyche, Gianfranco Zola and Sannino, and a summer of heavy recruitment has raised expectation of a promotion challenge.

But Garcia said: "If the club told me I had to finish in the top six I would not be here.

"There are maybe 20 owners in the Championship thinking the same. We have strength in depth, but it is a tough league.

"I want to take the club as far as I can, I will give everything to do this."