Troy Deeney has revealed Watford had to stop him playing against Ajax in pre-season after a virus left him in bed for two days during the club's pre-season trip to Austria.

The skipper recovered in time to play against German side Bayer Leverkusen just two days later and he told the club website he did not want to miss any more games than necessary.

"We landed Sunday, trained and I felt good,” said Deeney.

"I trained Monday and felt really, really good. I was thinking, ‘Here we go, start of a good week’ and then I woke up at 3am and thought, ‘I’ve got about three seconds here before this all turns a bit sour.’ And that was it. From 3am Tuesday morning to late Wednesday was the next time I saw anyone.

"I was in bed not feeling great. I did a little bit on Thursday but still didn’t feel great. I was back grafting on Friday and here we are.

"I’m a big old boy and I’m just getting on and doing what I need to do. I was never going to miss any more days or games than I needed to. They had to stop me playing against Ajax."

Despite the illness, the captain was pleased with the club's progress during the two games against Ajax and Leverkusen.

He also found a positive from his virus that saw him lose a bit of weight and manage to get a bit of game time before this Saturday's trip to Queen's Park Rangers.

"The only good thing is the weight is down," he said.

"I’m happy and I’ve lost a few extra calories. It was just a nice end to a good week.

"The boys have put a shift in and really grafted. We’ve played two high-quality teams who are a week ahead of us so it's a good solid start for us.

"It was just nice not to be on the toilet for longer than 20 minutes.

"Obviously I’m not going to be up there and at the same level as everybody else, but it was good to get the minutes in and not pick up an injury.”