Preston boss Alan Irvine will bide his time before deciding whether to try and sign Watford midfielder Lee Williamson on a permanent deal.

Williamson spent the final six weeks of last season on loan at Deepdale as Irvine bolstered his squad for a play-off push.

"At the moment we don't know what Watford are thinking about as regard to Lee. We are keeping our eye on the situation and if there looks like there is an opening there for us, we will speak to them," Irvine told the Lancashire Evening Post.

He added: "Lee is not our player, he is back at Watford. When he signed for us on loan, there was no conversation about him coming here on a permanent basis. Quite simply, we took him on loan for the rest of the season and opted to take things from there.

"I thought he did well here, he made a good contribution to us getting to the play-offs. Maybe Watford will want to keep a player of that quality. What their plans are, I don't know."