Watford FC announced the permanent signing of forward Tom Ince from Reading in June 2023, on a two-year deal with an option for a further 12 months.
The son of former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince, Tom was born in Stockport and joined the Liverpool academy as a youngster, before featuring for Notts County on loan and then properly announcing himself on the senior stage in the wake of a permanent move to Blackpool in August 2011.
Then still in his teens, the England youth international scored in the Championship play-off final at the end of his first season with the Tangerines - though West Ham United would ultimately win promotion - before going on to amass a total of 33 goals in 113 appearances for the club.
Following a brief loan at Crystal Palace in the second half of the 2013/14 campaign - that served him his first taste of the Premier League - Ince went on to join Hull City on a permanent deal that summer, who he represented in the domestic top-flight and in European competition.
Further loans at Nottingham Forest and Derby County preceded a permanent move to the latter in the summer of 2015, while he returned to the Premier League with newly-promoted Huddersfield Town two years later, going on to score twice - including against Watford - in 33 games.
A subsequent switch to Stoke City yielded 14 goals in little over 100 matches across four seasons, towards the end of which he enjoyed temporary spells at fellow second-tier outfits Luton Town and Reading.
After impressing on loan at the Royals - having contributed two goals in 15 appearances - Ince put pen-to-paper on a permanent deal at the Select Car Leasing Stadium in the summer of 2022, though his further nine goals in 38 league outings couldn’t help prevent relegation to the third tier at the end of 2022/23.
