Matěj Vydra

Matěj Vydra is a striker contracted with Udinese. He was born on 1 May 1992 in Chotěboř, Czech Republic.

Matěj’s youth career took off in FC Chotěboř in 1997. The footballer trained in the academy and performed for the junior squad of the club till 2003, when he passed a trial at Jihlava and moved to the new team.

In 2008, Vydra penned his first professional long-term contract with the club and started to make a lot of appearances at once, because the head coach was confident of him and gave the young striker a lot of chances. Matěj took part in 27 fixtures and found the net five times till January 2010.

In 2010, the footballer sealed a deal with Baník Ostrava and fired four goals in 14 games for the team till the summer the same year, when Italian side Udinese lodged a tempting bid for Vydra and secured his services on a long-term contract. In the 2010/2011 season, the striker featured only in two matches, and the management decided to send him on loan to Club Brugge. However, Matěj managed to make only one appearance for the temporary club till July 2012, when he put pen to paper of a season-long loan contract with English side Watford. Vydra was named the best Championship player of the season and in the season 2013/2014 was offered to join West Bromwich Albion. In the season 2014/2015 he performed for Watford again.

From 2007 till 2011, Vydra was capped 36 times and contributed ten goals for the Czech Republic national U-16, U-17, U-18 and U-19 squads. From 2011, the striker has taken part in two fixtures for the U-21 team. In 2012, Matěj was called up to the senior national squad.