Burnley FC hit the jackpot with £18m Watford FC transfer bite: View | OneFootball

Recouping a hefty transfer fee for the sale of Andre Gray to Watford proved to be a masterstroke by Burnley, who went on to claim European football

Two days before Burnley's 2017/18 campaign kicked off away at the home of reigning Premier League champions Chelsea, most fans would've been left with their heads in their hands at the news Andre Gray had been sold to Watford.

There was almost a grave sense of Déjà vu, as the Clarets had done something similar in 2013/14, selling star striker Charlie Austin in the days leading up to the opening day.

But in truth, most Burnley fans acknowledged that the rumoured £18.5m fee they'd received was great work by the board and represented great value for a player who had scored just nine Premier League goals the season prior.

It was the 2015/16 season when Gray really endeared himself to the Turf Moor faithful, netting 23 goals en route to firing Burnley back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

That was his first season in the North West since making a club-record £9m move in August 2015, signing from Brentford, so for Burnley to double their money in two seasons on a man who was playing non-league football back in 2013/14 was great business.

Gray's career since joining Watford

It would be amiss to suggest Gray's career was a failure after he joined Watford, as he went on to enjoy three top-flight campaigns with the Hornets, but the fact he never once matched the nine Premier League goals he managed at Burnley highlights just how much he struggled.

Never blessed with great technical ability, it was the raw pace and power coupled with a goalscorer's instinct that earned Gray his plaudits down the years, but it would be fair to say that the step-up in quality to the Premier League was just one he was unable to bridge.

Perhaps acutely aware he would struggle for game time at Watford, Gray joined QPR on loan for the 2021/22 season and struck 10 goals in just 28 appearances, proving he's far more at home in the Championship.

A far cry from the 23 he managed in his previous Championship campaign with Burnley, Gray departed for pastures new and ventured to Greece, where he joined Aris Thessaloniki and even featured in some European qualifiers where he scored an impressive five goals in four games.

From there, he ended up making the move to Saudi Arabia to play for Al-Riyadh SC, before recently returning to the EFL to play for Plymouth Argyle, who will hope he can rediscover his scoring touch from the 15/16 season as they bid to climb up the table.

Burnley reinvested the £18.5m wisely

Burnley certainly did well out of the deal to sell Gray, reinvesting most of their money into signing Chris Wood from Leeds United for a club-record £15m fee.

Wood went on to score 10 goals in the 2017/18 campaign as he helped fire Burnley into European competition for the first time in a lot of fans' lives.

He actually went on to score double figures in four successive top-flight campaigns for the Clarets and become the club's outright top Premier League goalscorer.

That summer window has always been regarded as one of the best in club history, and it certainly gave Sean Dyche the platform in which to create the perfect storm that got Burnley into Europe.

Wood went on to turn another handsome profit when he was sold to Newcastle United. Cork remains at the club currently, Taylor left last summer after seven successful seasons and the others all played their part in 2017/18,

None of that would have been financially viable though, without selling Andre Gray, whose sale on top of the Michael Keane money, gave Burnley some extra vigor in the transfer market, which ultimately wrote a new chapter in the club's history. £18m was too good to turn down at the time and, with hindsight, proved to be cashing in when the player was at his peak value.