Watford FC are set to spend around £500,000 on creating two ‘stadium-quality’ pitches at their training ground in London Colney, the St Albans & Harpenden Review understands.

The Hornets already have impressive facilities at their London Colney base, which is owned by University College London and used to be occupied by Arsenal.

At times in recent years the Golden Boys have used neighbouring Arsenal’s facilities when bad weather has caused pitches to be affected.

So the club have decided to install two training pitches which will have improved drainage and will, it is hoped, mirror the quality of the surface at Vicarage Road.

We believe the work will be factored into next year’s budget so additional investment will not be required.

The Golden Boys agreed a ten-year lease with UCL in July and in the past have considered building a nine-a-side indoor pitch and medical centre.

In late July, after the new agreement for the Bell Lane site was announced, Hornets’ chief executive Scott Duxbury said: "Securing our use of the London Colney training ground for another decade is a clear indication of our intention to work closely with UCL to develop a first-class facility to benefit Watford Football Club in the long-term.

"The length of the lease agreement is testament to the strong working relationship between ourselves and UCL. Now we can start finalising some of the plans we’ve already made for developments."