Watford have confirmed that summer signing Nathaniel Chalobah is set to undergo surgery after he suffered a knee injury during a training session last week.

The midfielder is a product of Chelsea’s youth academy but opted to leave Stamford Bridge for Watford, who are priced at 10.00 to be relegated, in a £5.5million deal over the summer after growing frustrated with a lack of opportunity.

Chalobah was hoping to earn regular game time with the Hornets as he looks to speed up his development and he performed strongly in the opening matches of the Premier League campaign.

The 22-year-old started all five of Watford’s Premier League matches prior to last weekend’s victory over Swansea which saw Marco Silva’s side bounce back from their 6-0 defeat at home to Manchester City.

However, the club have now confirmed that he has sustained a knee injury in training and performance director Gavin Benjafield confirmed Chalobah would now be set for an extended spell on the sidelines.

“Whilst we can’t put an exact timeline on his recovery, we are expecting to see him re-integrating into the squad well before the new year,” Benjafield said on the club’s official website.

The Vicarage Road outfit would not reveal when Chalobah is due to go under the knife but they will now need to plan without him for a run of matches which include the visit of Arsenal as well as trips to Chelsea and Everton.

Chalobah’s injury could also scupper any chance he had of winning a spot with England at the 2018 World Cup, having recently been called up to Gareth Southgate’s squad although he failed to feature in either of the qualifiers last month.