Watford have announced the appointment of Walter Mazzarri as the club's new head coach on a three-year deal.

The 54-year-old became the frontrunner to take over at Vicarage Road after it was announced that Quique Flores would leave the club at the end of the season.

OFFICIAL: #watfordfc confirms it has reached agreement with Walter Mazzarri to become Head Coach from 1st July 2016. pic.twitter.com/ExNAAxYnHK

— Watford FC (@WatfordFC) May 21, 2016

Mazzarri has worked at Sampdoria, Inter Milan and Napoli, where he won the Coppa Italia and guided the club to second in Serie A in the 2012-13 season.

Watford confirmed the appointment via Twitter on Saturday morning, revealing that the Italian will officially take charge on July 1.

It is the first managerial job for Mazzarri since he was sacked by Inter in November 2014 following a dismal 18 months in charge of the team.

The Italian becomes Watford's eighth head coach since the Pozzo family bought Watford in 2012.