Watford have been offered the chance to sign Brazilian midfielder Thiago Maia from Lille.

The 21-year-old Brazilian has also been linked with West Ham and Newcastle but the French club want £17.5million.

That would represent a significant profit on the £11m they paid to sign him from Santos just one season ago, but he has impressed enough to warrant such an increase in value.

Thiago Maia of Lille (right) pictured during a friendly against Premier League side Leicester

The defensive-minded player slotted seamlessly into Lille's midfield following his arrival last summer and also helped Brazil to Olympic gold in Rio two years ago.

Watford still have significant spending power following their £44m sale of Richarlison to Everton earlier this summer, but it remains to be seen how much of that will be made available to manager Javi Gracia.

They have already spent a significant amount this summer signing Gerard Deulofeu from Barcelona (£15m) and Ben Foster from West Brom (£4m) and have also agreed undisclosed deals for Marc Navarro, Ben Wilmot, Ken Sema and Adam Masina.

The transfer window closes on Thursday at 5pm.