Rhodes’ sale paves way for veteran Lee

Lee, the senior man in Huddersfield Town’s attack at 34, had a close bond with £8m man Rhodes – 11-and-a-half years his junior – although the former Republic of Ireland international acknowledges his exit could potentially hand him a route back to the first team, hopefully starting with tomorrow’s visit to his old club Ipswich.

Lee, who has made just one substitute appearance so far this term, said: “Jordan is a close personal friend of mine and first of all on behalf of the lads, would like to thank him for everything he did for the club.

“He was a pleasure to work with, but in football, people move on and he felt it was right for him, so we respect that.

“He keeps his cards close to his chest, but he kept me abreast of things that were happening. The figure that has been quoted is an astronomical amount of money these days, so financially it’s got to be very good for the club.”

Lee quipped: “(But) I wanted him to go as there’s more chance of me playing!

“Seriously, I don’t know what is going to happen (for me). I know it’s going to be tough and I’ve not had a run-out in the league this season, but my mindset is to be as fit as possible, so if an opportunity comes I can make a big impression – certainly off the bench.

“I changed a lot of games when I came on last season and want an opportunity to do that again,but realise we’ve signed a class player in Vaughan. I’ll keep slogging away.”

Desperate to be involved at Ipswich, Lee added: “I’d love to be involved and will keep my fingers crossed. My mum and dad live down there now, so I’ll get to see some of the family after the game which is great and I’m looking forward to it.

“We really needed last week’s win against Burnley, which was solid.

“Against Nottingham Forest, we didn’t give the best of accounts of ourselves, but got a result and got a certain amount of elation from that.

“But certainly after last Saturday, everyone’s bubbly.”