SEVERAL weeks of speculation were ended yesterday (Thursday, August 25) when Richard Lee completed a year-long loan switch to Blackburn Rovers.

The Premiership side have an option to make the move for the 22-year-old keeper permanent for a pre-agreed £500,000, rising to £750,000 depending on appearances.

"We had a decent offer on the table for him," said Watford boss Adrian Boothroyd, explaining his decision to let the popular player move on. "It is a season-long loan with a view to a permanent move. The fee is set and it is a fee we feel he is worth."

Talk of Lee moving to the Lancashire club, where former Hornets goalkeeping coach Kevin Hitchcock moved to last season, has been around all summer, but it intensified when Boothroyd brought in Ben Foster on a season-long loan from Manchester United just before the start of the new campaign. The Oxford-born stopper then found himself relegated to third choice, after the manager opted to have Alec Chamberlain on the bench, and last week Boothroyd admitted he had rejected an offer from Rovers, reported to be around £150,000.

For the full story, don't miss this week's edition of the Watford Observer.