Vega completes Watford move
Swiss international defender Ramon Vega has left Scottish treble-winners Celtic to join north London club Watford. He becomes the first signing of the new club boss, Gianluca Vialli.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision to come down to the first division,” said Vega. “The most important decision I had to make was whereabouts I wanted to stay.”
“I wanted to settle down with my family,” he continued. “I’m looking to find somewhere to live that offers me tranquility. I liked living in the London area before and this move gave me the chance to do so again.”
The 30-year-old had been out of contract with the Scottish champions for whom he scored four goals in 26 appearances.
He decided to quit Celtic after club manager Martin O’Neill only offered him a one-year deal. He will be on a three-year contract with Watford and will link up with his new teammates on July 1.
The move marks a return down south for the defender who arrived in Britain in 1997, joining Tottenham Hotspur in a SFr8.75 million move from Italian club Cagliari. He went on to make 84 appearances for the north London side before moving to Celtic in December 2000.
Vega has been capped 23 times by Switzerland, scoring once in a friendly against England in 1998, but he has not featured in Switzerland’s two recent World Cup qualifiers against the Faroe Islands and Slovenia.
He began his career with Grasshoppers, making more than 150 appearances between 1990 and 1996.
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