William Troost-Ekong has described Watford's Premier League promotion as a bigger achievement than playing at both the Olympics and the World Cup.

The defender joined the Hornets at the beginning of the season and set about achieving his dream of playing in the English top flight.

After reaching his goal with his first real opportunity, the Nigerian told ESPN that it was the moment of his career that has meant the most to him up to this point.

"Playing for the Super Eagles was one of the biggest achievements in my young career," said Troost-Ekong.

"I have had other moments in time that meant a lot to me, like the promotion with FC Dordrecht [in the Netherlands] when I was 20 or 21 and also playing consistently in Turkey.

"Playing in Serie A, playing at the World Cup, Olympics, there are so many different moments.

"But I feel like this one means a lot more now, because it's been a real long-term goal. To achieve that, by achieving all these smaller goals along the way, that's why this one means even more.

Harrow Times:

"I was a young kid growing up in the Netherlands and just had a dream of playing professional football at the highest level, which was the Premier League at the time.

"So I feel very privileged to have had this journey, and to make a full circle. But it's something that I've worked for a long time."

Troost-Ekong is now looking forward to supporters returning to Vicarage Road to enjoy the achievement with the players.

Having had a brief glimpse of a match with supporters during trial games in the winter, the defender is excited about experiencing a match in front of a capacity crowd in the Premier League.

"To give the club and to give the fans that joy of being able to get back to the Premier League, and to do it the first time after getting relegated in a relatively short time, is a massive achievement and it kind of makes you forget that Watford was ever out of the Premier League in the first place," he added.

"It is massive for the community because the fans are really looking forward to coming back to the stadium. We had two or three games in November, December, when they trialed having some fans back in, which was a great experience, even though it might have been 10 or 20 per cent capacity.

"It's a big thing to look forward to not just for the players but also for the fans and community to have Watford Football Club playing again and back in a premier league. So, it means a lot to the people and to be part of that joy and to be able to deliver that together with the team. It's amazing.

"There will come a moment in time where we're going to think about next season and, of course, the club is going to talk about its ambitions. But I think the ground level that we're going to have next year, of course, is being in the Premier League."