Recent history has seen Watford become something of a stepping stone club. However, in goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis the Hornets have signed a player who has already taken that step in moving to Vicarage Road.

The 27-year-old Lithuanian international joined the Golden Boys on Thursday of last week after his contract with reigning Romanian champions Steaua Bucharest expired.

He arrives in England as a relative unknown – save for his part in England’s 4-0 victory over Lithuania at Wembley in March – so we sought the opinion of Romanian journalist Emanuel Rosu for more insight on the Golden Boys’ newest recruit.

“He signed a one-year deal with Steaua last summer. I understand he said the only thing he wanted when he signed for Steaua was to regain match experience and confidence in his ability as a footballer. He always saw the club as a stepping stone,” explained Rosu.

“The atmosphere was not very good last season and fans stopped attending matches. It was not very pleasant to be a Steaua player for the last six months and those things affected the players as well. He said he wanted to leave in January but he did not want to let the club down and finished the job by staying for six more months.”

The unpleasantness referred to by Rosu came about after the 1986 European Champions were stripped of their name, club colours and crest by the Romanian Supreme Court following a dispute with the club’s controversial owner, Gigi Becali.

According to the Supreme Court, Becali’s 2003 registration of the Steaua brand had been illegal, returning every aspect of the club’s identity to the Romanian defence ministry.

Originally founded by Romania’s Royal Army in 1947 as ASA Bucuresti (Army Sports Association), in 1998 Steaua separated from the Army and became known as Steaua Bucharest. The dispute has still not been resolved, though Becali has since relaxed his fight to reclaim the club’s identity.

And the multi-millionaire businessman took a more hard-line stance with Arlauskis after he expressed his desire to leave the Militarii (The Army Men) earlier this year.

“Becali took him out the starting XI for refusing to sign a new contract with the club in January,” said Rosu. “But Arlauskis did not have a bad relationship with Becali. He just said how thing were really going because everyone knows how things are here with Becali and the coaches – he openly admitted telling the coach who to pick.”

Arlauskis had joined Romania’s most successful club – who this year won their 26th Liga I title – having endured a torrid four-year stay with Russian side Rubin Kazan, playing just five times in the league in three seasons.

“He did not feel important at Rubin Kazan but Steaua made him feel important again,” admitted Rosu. “He had a lot of work to do because Steaua were not that strong. He needed the chance to prove he was important and invaluable to the team.”

Handed that opportunity by coach Mirel Radoi, the former Mastis Telsiai, Siauliai and Unirea Urziceni gloveman seized it with both hands.

“He is a fantastic goalkeeper for Romanian league level,” said Rosu. “He is the best goalkeeper Steaua have had for ten years; he has good reflexes and from memory, he made just one big mistake in the entire season.

“He saved the club on numerous occasions and his anticipation skills are wonderful. In Romania he does not have so many crosses to deal with but the Premier League is more physical so he will have to work on that.

“I really did not expect him to be this good because he came to Steaua after a long period of inactivity at Rubin Kazan.”