But the Albion winger and the club’s technical staff are facing a big decision in what happens next in his blossoming career.
The Rams are understood to be monitoring the situation regarding the winger whose first season with the Seagulls did not really take off.
Fellow Championship sides West Ham, West Brom, Preston and Leicester City are also said to be interested in a potential loan deal.
Watson was back at Lancing early this summer, putting in the work before the official start of pre-season training.
He missed part of pre-season last summer due to a minor injury and appeared to have fitness issues intermittently last term.
A disrupted week of training halted momentum which appeared to be gathering after he went on as sub in the league defeat at Manchester United, then featured in the midweek Carabao Cup exit at Arsenal.
Watson, 20, had a largely unimpressive loan at Millwall in the second half of last season.
But Albion clearly saw a lot they liked when he was at Sunderland and secured his signature even before he won promotion for his local club in the final seconds of the play-off final.
He scored a very well-taken goal at Oxford in the Carabao Cup, with a curler into the far top corner.
Speaking after he got on at Old Trafford in November, he was asked by The Argus whether he regretted leaving a Sunderland side who were flying at the time.
He said: “The intensity that this coach wants to play with, I think you can see it on the pitch, it's much bigger than the Championship and I think suits my game.
“I've needed time to adapt to that and obviously get the connections with other players and the system. But I think I'm just about there now.”
Soon after that, head coach Fabian Hurzeler said: “It has not been easy to get into rhythm for him because he always has small issues regarding his body.
“But hopefully now he is getting stronger, physically his body handles the adaptation better, then we see his potential.
“We see his potential every week in training but the main thing for us is really is his body able to adapt, how fast his body is able to adapt to get into his rhythm.
“And then I'm sure that he can help us.”
That has not happened as yet but there are seemingly plenty of Championship sides willing to help that process along while helping themselves.