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Watford winger Gerard Deulofeu has suffered a stress fracture in his foot and is set to miss a substantial period of the season.

The Spaniard limped off against his former club Everton and confirmed he'd be out for 'some time' on social media, but Javi Gracia was not keen to put a time-frame in Deulofeu's recovery.

Typically stress fractures take between six and eight weeks to heal and then there is more recovery time after that, as the bones strengthen and prepare themselves for impact sport again.

Gracia is hopeful that Deulofeu will play again this season, however, there is a chance it will take longer and Deulofeu's time at Watford could come to a premature end, given his loan deal only runs to the end of the season.

He will certainly miss a large chunk of action, with the West Brom, Liverpool, Arsenal and Bournemouth games all likely to be too soon. Watford's home game with Burnley on April 7 occurs exactly six weeks after the injured happened and while Deulofeu may target that, it would be a big ask for him to return so quickly.

"I think the doctor can explain better than me, but I'm going to try," Gracia said.

"He has stress fracture of his foot. I'm optimistic he'll recover as soon as possible, but I don't know how long he'll be out.

"It depends on many things. I think he will come back with us before finishing the season."

It will be a huge blow to Deulofeu, who wanted to use the loan spell at Watford to break into the Spanish squad. Now that he is absent for the March friendlies and may only play five or six more games this season, that would now appear a tough ask.

Gracia was not about to complain about another player visiting the treatment room, though, despite conceding that Deulofeu was an important player for the Hornets. Christian Kabasele and Tom Cleverley have both suffered hamstring problems in Gracia's short reign as well as Deulofeu's problem.

"I miss all the injured players. In my life, I try not to complain all the time for things I don't have," he explained.

"I enjoy the things I have and it's the same with the players. I'll choose the best option for every game and that's best for us.

"Deulofeu's important for us because he arrived the day before the Stoke game and he played this match and all the matches since then. He's an important player.

"Now we'll recover other players and have more options in this moment and we'll look for alternatives and the solution.

"In these games Gerard gave us speed and he was an important player for us, because now we have to do it."

Gracia is confident that Watford have the players to cope with Deulofeu's absence. As well as Andre Carrillo and Dodi Lukebakio, who have both come in wide areas in recent weeks, Gracia is now able to call on Will Hughes and Jerome Sinclair, who have both recovered from their injuries.

"They have more chances to play because Gerard was playing on the right side and now he's injured," he said.

"Not only Carrillo and Lukebakio, there are players like Will Hughes who can play there. Jerome [Sinclair] can play there, he's fit.

"We have more options and as I said before, I am happy with all of them."

Aside from Deulofeu's absence, Gracia will be picking from largely the same squad as he did for the Everton game last week.

Will Hughes has continued to train and is available for selection, whilst Jerome Sinclair has also recovered from his knock. Didier Ndong, meanwhile, missed the Everton game due to personal reasons but has returned to training and is back in contention for West Brom's visit. Craig Cathcart will shortly return to training.

There is no new news on the likes of Christian Kabasele, Tom Cleverley, Nathaniel Chalobah and although Gracia did confirm that Younes Kaboul has suffered a setback. He was due to return to training last month after a fractured metatarsal.