Walsall have confirmed they have rejected three bids for star striker Troy Deeney.

The Saddlers have dismissed the offers from a Championship outfit – understood to be Watford – and are determined to keep the player.

But the Hornets have been tracking Deeney all summer – as the Express & Star revealed in June – and have stepped-up their interest.

Watford made their third bid early last week but all the offers, believed to be around £100,000, have been rejected.

Chief executive Stefan Gamble said today: “We’ve received three offers and we’ve made it pretty clear they’ve not been acceptable to us.

“It’s been a week and we haven’t heard anything, so I’m not sure if they’re going to put another offer in.

“Troy is a very important player to us and we don’t want to sell him.”

The Saddlers are prepared to play hardball over their star, who played in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Coventry, and boss Chris Hutchings insists he doesn’t have to sell.

He said: “We’ve turned down three bids over the last three weeks for Troy. I’m under no pressure to sell him but everyone has a price.

“That’s where we are. He knows the exact situation and I’m keeping him informed of everything that’s happening.”

Deeney is happy at the Banks’s Stadium and has another year left on his contract but Hutchings is realistic about the Saddlers’ chances of keeping the striker – who top scored with 14 goals last season.

The manager knows if Watford meet Walsall’s valuation of the 22-year-old he will go.

He said: “We have to look at his progress as a professional and young man who wants to play at a higher level.

“If you want to sell your car for £1,000 and I offer you £500 you’ll tell me to go away. If I offer £750 you’ll say the same.

“When I get to £950 it might make you think about it, but at the moment the offers have been rejected at that’s the end of the matter.”

Deeney has scored 27 goals in 136 games since making his debut in 2006 and won the supporters’ Player of the Season last term.

The forward has scored 24 goals in Hutchings’ 72 games in charge and penned a new 18-month deal in September last year.

Watford have just two fit strikers, Danny Graham and Will Buckley, and manager Malky Mackay sees Deeney as the man to lead the Hornets’ front line.

They drew 3-3 at Northampton on Saturday but Mackay, who has already signed Rene Gilmartin from the Saddlers, is under increasing pressure to bolster his attack.

Deeney, who played in the 2-0 defeat to Coventry on Saturday, is on their hitlist but the Saddlers are prepared to play hardball.