EDDIE Mitchell admitted he was relieved to see Rhoys Wiggins’s transfer saga finally come to an end.

Wiggins last night joined Cherries’ League One rivals Charlton Athletic on a three-year deal – six months after handing in a transfer request at Dean Court.

Mitchell had already turned down at least two bids from the Addicks for the Welsh under-19 international, while Championship side Watford also had an offer declined earlier this summer.

The Hornets, though, did have a bid for the 23-year-old accepted by Mitchell late on Wednesday, before the Addicks jumped in and hijacked the deal last night.

Mitchell would not be drawn on the fee for Wiggins, but the Echo understands it could be in the region of £250,000.

The Cherries chief did insist there was little he could do to persuade the defender to stay, however, claiming the star was hell bent on a move.

Mitchell told the Echo: “I’m quite relieved to be honest and I think Lee Bradbury and Steve Fletcher are too.

“I’d like to think Rhoys will go on to better things, but his attitude towards the speed of my response to bids wasn’t very good.

“I didn’t want to stand in his way of progress but I wasn’t going to let him walk out of the club for nothing.

“He phoned me about 15 times in two days regarding bids and I was getting texts and calls from his agent.

“I think Rhoys has got to where he is because he is very determined and he wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way of a move.

“Lee saw this and so did Fletch and I think deep down they were pleased to see him go.

“It was pretty evident that he wasn’t going to play for us next season.”

Mitchell declined to comment on information from Echo sources, which claimed he and Wiggins had clashed in a heated meeting held to discuss the player’s future earlier this week.

The Cherries chairman added: “Rhoys is a good player but we have things lined up so we don’t want to be too despondent.

“We’ve brought players in and we are going to bring more in. We won’t settle with what we have because we want people fighting for places.

“We have sold two players and brought in three with Steven Gregory, Mathieu Baudry and Darryl Flahavan signing. So, we are only one down after Danny Hollands’s move.

“Most of the big clubs won’t let anyone out on loan until July so I would tell the supporters that July might spring a few surprises on that front as well.”