Troy Deeney has revealed his surprise that Walsall didn’t enter into fresh contract talks before his switch to Championship club Watford.

Deeney also admitted he was going stale at the Saddlers before completing a £650,000 move to Vicarage Road last Friday.

The Saddlers welcome Tranmere in the Carling Cup first round tonight but Deeney will be making his full Hornets debut at Aldershot.

And the striker, with his deal set to expire at the end of the season, expected the club to sound him out over an extension before Watford swooped.

He said: “I wasn’t surprised they didn’t offer me anything, but I was surprised it was never talked about.

“Normally the manager will say ‘let’s get August out of the way and talk in September or October’ but that conversation never happened.

“In the end I had 10 months left on my contract and I had to look after myself but everyone knows, as the years have gone by, then Walsall will sell if the money is right.”

The 22-year-old, who scored 27 goals in 136 games for the Saddlers, insisted his mind was made up because he couldn’t face going stale at the Banks’s Stadium.

He said: “It was a no brainer, a team at a higher level wanted me and I wanted to move. I wanted to better myself.

“I was going a little stale but I’d still like to think I put my all in. It had started to become a routine, if you ask any professional they will say the same.

“When you are in the same environment for a few years you go through the motions and I needed to progress.”

But Deeney refused to enter into a war of words with Walsall manager Chris Hutchings after the boss labelled him “unprofessional” for the handling of his transfer request.

He said: “I don’t want to go into it. He said what he said. We had a little chat before I left and he said what he wanted to say.

“I’m a Watford player now and Walsall is his problem. Even though the gaffer said I was unprofessional, he added that I still worked hard and I was always ready. Most of the lads understood.

“If you ask anyone in that situation then they would have been a lot worse than me.”