Heurelho Gomes admits it was a strange situation at Watford over the last few games and has hailed outgoing head coach Quique Sanchez Flores as a special man.

The Spaniard's future at Vicarage Road has been in doubt for weeks until Flores confirmed his exit this summer at the end of last week.

But Gomes has praised the head coach for the way he handled himself amid constant speculation over his position during the run-in.

The Watford keeper said: “Of course it was a strange situation in the last few games but big respect to Quique as well because he stayed as professional as he could and he’s a special man.

"Of course we wish him the best for the future because he loves football and works 24 hours a day to try to give us the best he could. Of course at the end it’s a shame but we know that football can be like this."

Flores' final game in charge came on Sunday in the Hornets' 2-2 draw at home to Sunderland and Gomes believes he exceeded expectations this season. 

“He has been great all season for us," the Brazilian said. "There were plenty of new players coming in during the summer and he made the team difficult to beat. Of course we wanted to give him a little bit more especially in the final game but unfortunately we couldn’t. We did the best we could.

“He has been great for us. Of course he guided us to stay in the Premier League and I believe we did more than the people were expecting for us.

"We tried to do our best for him in the final game but unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted."