Taylor: It's right to sell Williamson now (From Bucks Free Press)

Taylor: It's right to sell Williamson now

10:10am Sunday 25th January 2009

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WANDERERS have agreed to sell defender Mike Williamson to Championship outfit Watford.

The central defender was left out of Blues' dismal defeat at second from bottom Bournemouth yesterday after the two clubs agreed an undisclosed fee 24 hours earlier.

The 25-year-old is expected to complete his switch to Vicarage Road on Monday.

Manager Peter Taylor said: “It is not good to lose a good player but I think it was right for it to happen.”

Williamson is out of contract in the summer and had not signed a new contract at Adams Park, meaning he could have left for nothing in the summer.

Wanderers had previously turned down two £100,000 bids from former boss Paul Lambert at League One Colchester United but finally said yes to Watford.

The fee is officially undisclosed but sources close to Watford yesterday were saying it is £150,000.

Wanderers signed the player on a free transfer from Southampton with no sell-on clauses involved and it is believed this sale includes a healthy sell on percentage.

Taylor said: “I am disappointed to see him go but Mike would have been out of contract at the end of the season and he wanted to play in the Championship.

“There were clubs in League One that wanted him and that was easy to turn down, but he wants to play Championship football and I hope it goes well for him.

“When we had the certain offers from certain clubs it was easy for me to recommend no but when it got to a certain figure, and being Watford in the Championship, I recommended yes because I think it was important for the boy and for the changing room.”

Taylor has been told he will he will get some of the receipts from the sale to strengthen his squad who have been suffering from a dose of top of the table jitters with two straight defeats.

He said: “I will see some of it if I want it and I'm going to have a look around.”

But Taylor may not splash it on a replacement defender.

He said: “It is not good to lose a player of his quality but we have won hard games without him before. He's a good player but so is Leon Johnson, Dave McCracken and Will Antwi.

“It doesn't mean it's going to change our season. At the end of the day we have lost a player. We could have done without it but it is not going to make a massive difference.”

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