Maidana appointed Head of Performance at Watford

Nicolás Maidana has been appointed as the new Head of Performance at Watford.

The Uruguayan arrives following the appointment of Alessio Dionisi as Head Coach in June, although the duo have never previously worked together before.

The link is actually Udinese which, like Watford, is owned by the Pozzo family. Maidana worked for the Italian club in 2021/22.

Maidana is hugely experienced and has worked at clubs around the world: Selangor FC in Malaysia (2026), Panathinaikos in Greece (2024), Granada CF in Spain (2023/24) and Flamengo in Brazil (2023), alongside his spell at Udinese.

Before that globe-trotting run, he spent a lengthy period as a Fitness Coach at Club Nacional in his native Uruguay (2018-2021).

It was during his time at Nacional that Maidana wrote an in-depth piece for TGG on his work and philosophy.

On his approach to gym work, he said younger players reaching the first team were often trained “just like a player who is close to retirement,” calling this “a big mistake” — arguing that young athletes need both “training to compete” and “training to win,” rather than one at the expense of the other.

He was also a believer in balancing “hard and soft skills,” saying: “We have to understand that we work with people, not robots.”

On GPS and load monitoring, Maidana struck a note of caution: “Maybe we are putting limits on our players because of our desire to measure and quantify everything.”

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