Given February was the last time ­Watford kept a clean sheet in the ­Premier League, it should perhaps come as no surprise that they have hired a defensive coach in Quique Sanchez Flores.

What does come as a shock, however, is when the Spaniard explains that his ideas about how to plug the Hornets’ leaky defence have come from watching the Toronto Raptors win the NBA Finals this year.

“I love it,” Flores tells Standard Sport. “Football and basketball, they are ­connected sometimes in their systems and how you want to play. If you want to play fast, if you want to play with pace and passes, sometimes this is connected in different strategies and systems. ­Obviously the transition of football is faster because we play with our feet.

“I saw the series this year when the Toronto Raptors were playing against Golden State ­Warriors. When they ­finished the ­journalists go to the coach of the ­Raptors, who won, and they say, ‘What is the key?’ He says, ‘Passion and defence’.

“I thought that is very interesting. The defence is very, very good and important for every single style. Even if you want to play like Manchester City, if you don’t defend that well it is very difficult.”

Flores has always had a love of basketball and it shaped his time at Atletico Madrid around the turn of the decade, when he was reading former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson’s book ‘Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior’.

Flores’s belief that a strong defence is the key to success is paramount. It was the cornerstone of his first stint at ­Watford during the 2015/16 season, when he guided the club to 13th in the Premier League following their return to the top flight. That season, the ­Hornets conceded 50 goals — the same as Liverpool — with only seven teams having a better defensive record over the 38 games.

After shipping eight goals in four League games this season, Watford will hope Flores can bring back that ­defensive steel, and the Spaniard admits to having watched the club’s games this year.

“It is possible I have changed [as a person], but like a coach I haven’t changed too much,” he says. “I still like compact teams, good defenders, ­choosing where we go to make the pressure, where we are going to regain the ball, to play fast, to go to the box, not to [make] many, many passes for no reason, as I want to be direct.”

In his three years away from Watford, Flores has continued with his strategy of using his coaching career to travel the world. He has coached in the Middle East and added China to his CV earlier this year with a six-month spell at Shanghai Shenhua.

“It was completely ­different, but when you choose this kind of ­experience you know what you choose,” says Flores. “It is not a problem. It is not a surprise. I chose one kind of life for my work. I use my work like a life. I am very happy coaching in every single corner of the world I can choose.”

Flores may have been around the world in a manner that would please any seasoned globetrotter, but England has always been the one country he has held close to his heart.

The 54-year-old has been close to returning before, ­notably when Stoke were chasing him in 2018 and when Newcastle were replacing Rafael ­Benitez this summer.

“I kept in touch with English football,” says Flores. “There were no matches for different reason but I kept in touch because I have always had this kind of spirit.

“I said when I was here in England before it meant a lot to me. It touched my heart because of the way the fans go to the stadium, the media respect different things.

“Of course, I know there are critics around the world — even in England — and results are the most important thing, but sometimes you can feel something special. These kind of ­special things I just felt here in England. That’s why I am happy to be here.”

Where others have failed to lure Flores back to English football, however, Watford have succeeded. It has come as a surprise to some, not least because the Spaniard left in 2016 when his break clause was activated after just one ­season, but he simply could not say no when the call came to come back to Vicarage Road.

“I cannot say that I had a bad ­relationship with the owner (Gino Pozzo) before — it is impossible to say that,” he says.

“I was really grateful, really pleased he gave me the first opportunity to come to the Premier League and he is the one who gave me the second ­opportunity to come to the Premier League. So the only thing I can be is grateful and pleased to Gino. I feel ­Watford is my home.”