£4.25 million depending on appearances. He made his Watford debut three days later, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 win over Ipswich Town, hitting the post a few minutes after entering the field. Ellington initially found it difficult to command a place in the Watford starting line-up due to the excellent form of Darius Henderson and Marlon King, and his first goal for Watford did not come until he scored in a 1–1 draw against Charlton Athletic on 19 January 2008, and went on to score a further 2 goals in 3 games, but then did not score again until 5 April against Coventry, his last of the season. Ellington made 34 league appearances, 18 of them starts, scoring 4 goals. On 21 December 2009, Ellington signed for Greek side Xanthi FC on loan for the rest of the year. Having played in Greece for the whole of 2010, he returned to Watford in January 2011, but is unlikely to feature in their games. He trained with Preston North End in January 2011, scoring two goals in a reserve team fixture on 11 January 2011. He signed for Preston on 13 January 2011 on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season. He will then be out of contract. Derby County (loan) Derby County signed Ellington on 30 May 2008 on a season-long loan, with a view to him joining the Rams permanently on a free transfer at the end of the season, in a move that re-united the player with manager Paul Jewell. Ellington had a successful pre-season with the Rams, scoring three times in seven matches. He made his debut for the club against Doncaster Rovers on 9 August 2008 and scored his first three goals for the club with a hat-trick against Lincoln City in the Football League Cup on 12 August. He scored his first league goal for the club on 4 October, an eighty-fifth-minute winner in the 2–1 victory away to Norwich City. He scored twice in a week in November - the second in a 4–1 victory at Brighton and Hove Albion on 4 November and the second in a 2–1 win at home to Leeds United on 11 November. Ellington scored a penalty in the ninety-third minute against Stoke City in the quarter-finals of the League Cup on 2 December, which sent Derby into the semi-finals for the first time