Italian international striker Stefano Okaka has joined
Udinese on loan from Premier League club Watford until the end of the
season, the Serie A side confirmed on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old, who has played the last two
seasons at Watford after arriving from Belgian outfit Anderlecht in
mid-2016, has fallen out of favour at the English club who are under the
ownership of the Italian Pozzo family who also control Udinese.
“Okaka
is a strong point physically, good at defending the ball and getting
the team up,” Udinese technical director Daniel Prade told the club’s
website.
“Stefano is strong in the air and inside the penalty area.”
The four-time capped international forward has made just three substitute appearances for Watford this season.
Okaka started his career at Roma, spending seven years at the capital side where he made his first-team debut aged 16.
From 2007 he had loan spells at clubs
including English side Fulham and Italian teams Bari and Parma, before
joining Sampdoria for the 2014-2015 season.
Udinese are 14th in the Italian top flight.