Former Blackburn Rovers youngster Brad Lyons has completed a move to Kilmarnock, the club have confirmed.

The midfielder has penned a two-year contract at Rugby Park following the expiry of his contract at Ewood Road, meaning that he was allowed to leave the club on a free transfer.

The 24-year-old moved to Blackburn from Coleraine during the 2018-19 and became a regular feature for the club's under-23s side, however he never made an appearance for Tony Mowbray's first team.

A loan spell with St Mirren was followed up by another spell on loan with Morecambe last term where Lyons made 18 appearances to help the club to secure promotion from League Two via the play-offs.

However after coming to the end of his contract at Blackburn the midfielder has expressed his gratitude to be given the opportunity to kick on with Kilmarnock.

Speaking to Kilmarnock's official website, Lyons said: "It feels brilliant to be a Kilmarnock player and I’m so thankful to the manager for bringing me to such a big club. He’s really well known and respected in Northern Ireland and it was a no-brainer to come and play under him.

“I had a great run with Morecambe and to experience Wembley. It was a great experience and one I’ll never forget and hopefully we can experience promotion here too.

“I’m an all-round midfielder. I don’t mind doing the defensive duties and then trying to get forward as much as possible. Hopefully I can help the team and add more goals to my game."

The verdict

This is a great opportunity for Brad Lyons.

The midfielder is clearly a talent but has found it incredibly hard to break into the first team fold at Ewood Park.

There's no shame in that - particularly given that we've seen his quality during two successful loan spells with St Mirren and Morecambe last term.

The hope for Lyons now is that he can really settle into life with Kilmarnock and kick on into the player that everyone at Blackburn knows that he can be.