Marco Silva wants "confidence player" Andre Carrillo to remain at Watford next season but warned the World Cup-bound Peru winger he will need to prove himself between now and the end of the campaign if he is to stay at Vicarage Road.

Sources close to Carrillo previously told the Watford Observer he would love to stay with the Hornets, in spite of quotes attributed to the player around the same time re-affirming his commitment to parent club Benfica.

However, the 26-year-old has barely featured for the Portuguese league champions during the two years he has been with the club, something Silva thinks is not normal for "a player of his quality".

He said: "When he came here, he had a fantastic impact in our team, and in the Premier League – a lot of players and clubs don’t know him.

"We’ll see [if he can stay]. He’s not our player, but I’m sure we will do everything we can to keep him. He needs to prove himself until the end of the season, and then we’ll see what will happen."

Carrillo looked off-colour as he prepared for Peru's era-defining play-off with New Zealand last month, but was Watford's best player in their 4-1 hammering by Huddersfield at the weekend, not long after another impressive cameo in the 4-2 defeat by Manchester United.

If Silva agrees that the distraction took its toll on the 41-cap midfielder, he's not showing it.

He said: "He needs confidence and hasn’t played many games in the past two years for a player of his quality. He had a fantastic impact, and in every moment he’s started to grow, went to the national team for 10 days and lost time with us.

"Everything’s different there, and all that time we lost with him is not good for us, him or me. It’s our obligation though.

"Qualifying is a fantastic thing for him. I’m really happy for him, it’s very important for him, and for Peru as well. It’s brilliant. It will give him more confidence, so now it’s a matter of my decision over whether to choose him.

"He has fantastic skills, and he has proved his quality here and he wants to stay in the Premier League. He’s enjoying it in the Premier League, and he has everything to stay at a high level.

"Even when he went to the national team last month, we changed formation and worked over the break. He missed out on some important moments in training, and he knows how I work.

"When you play with five at the back, you need one player to play more inside, not like a right winger. So I tried to do that with Will [Hughes] or [Roberto] Pereyra, but Carrillo can play too because if he stays in good form, he can change a game."