Chakvetadze 'huge positive' for Watford - Cleverley

Giorgi Chakvetadze also had loan spells at Hamburg and Slovan Bratislava during his time with Gent

Head coach Tom Cleverley hopes Watford will see the best of Giorgi Chakvetadze as they look for a big improvement on last season's 15th-place Championship finish.

The 24-year-old Georgia midfielder made 37 appearances for the Hornets last season after arriving from Belgian club KAA Gent, initially on loan.

He gave Watford the lead in Tuesday's pre-season friendly against Wycombe Wanderers, but they eventually lost the game 3-2.

"It's a huge positive from the last few days to see Giorgi back and on top form," Cleverley told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"He was nursing a groin issue the last few games of last season and then he's gone away to the Euros, so I've never really seen the best side of Giorgi."

Chakvetadze played in all four of Georgia's games at the European Championships as they reached the last 16, beating Portugal 2-0 to progress from their group.

"He's a player that I like - he's intelligent, good positional awareness, good quality on the ball and it's my job to add goals and assists to those strong parts of his game," said Cleverley.

Watford have re-signed midfielder Moussa Sissoko and goalkeeper Jonathan Bond this summer, as well as bringing in defender Antonio Tikvic and forward Rocco Vata.

But former Manchester United and Everton midfielder Cleverley wants further additions to his squad before their opening game of the new Championship campaign away to Millwall on 10 August.

"The pre-season has highlighted that we must strengthen in the right areas," he added.

"(But) I just want to focus on the players I've got at the minute - we're not as hard to score against as we showed in my nine games (in charge) at the end of last season, and that's something I need to address," he said.

Watford need to assess defender Wesley Hoedt, who went off with a knee injury just before half-time against League One side Wycombe.

On the overall performance against the Chairboys, Cleverley added: "I think the fixture was good for us because it could mirror what we can expect in the first game of the season.

"Although we want to control the game and control the possession, sometimes there are 11 players out there trying to make that not so perfect for you and we have to deal with those moments better.

"It's not all like kids' football where you can be on the ball and playing through the lines nicely - sometimes teams are good at set-pieces, stick it in the channels, win second balls and I didn't think we were good enough in those areas."

Watford's next and final warm-up game is at home to Premier League side Brentford on Saturday.