SOCCER:SEÁN ST LEDGER was in talks yesterday with Leicester City after Preston North End accepted an increased offer from the Championship side for the Republic of Ireland defender who now looks certain to avoid having to spend next season playing League One football.
Leicester, managed by former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson, had originally bid about €825,000 for the 26-year-old whose decidedly mixed form last year ended any chance that he would leave Deepdale for a top-flight club.
Preston, however, insisted the centre back, who has played 19 times for Ireland, was worth something in excess of €1 million and yesterday the clubs agreed a fee believed to be around €1.38 million. The player’s terms were not expected to be a major stumbling block last night and, barring an unexpected hitch, the defender looks set to complete his move over the coming 24 hours.
Birmingham City manager Chris Hughton has made Ireland under-21 international striker Adam Rooney his first signing with the Dubliner arriving on a free transfer after two superb seasons with Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Premier League, scoring more than 20 goals in each of his last two campaigns. “What I have seen in him is a good work ethic,” said Hughton. “He is desperate to learn and develop his game. He is by no means the finished article but I look forward to working with him. He’s started to prove he can be a prolific goalscorer.”
Rooney, who made a great start to his career in England at Stoke but eventually headed to Scotland after becoming frustrated at the lack of first-team opportunities, said he sees the move as “a massive opportunity”.
“I’m really excited about the fact I’ve come to a massive club. I’ve followed them a bit because my brother is friendly with Keith Fahey and I really rate Chris Hughton as a manger; he’s done great things in the past and he’s a great fella. I’m really looking forward to working with him.
“I wanted to get back to England,” he continued, “because eventually I want to play in the Premier League. Everybody here wants to go straight back up and hopefully we can do that.”
Rooney, who has signed a two-year deal, will report for training on Monday and will travel to Cork for a training camp at Fota Island the following week. The club will play a friendly against Cork City on July 16th at Turner’s Cross.
Birmingham, meanwhile, are reported to be in talks with Hibernian regarding compensation for Colin Calderwood, who is expected to leave the manager’s position at Easter Road in order to link up once again with Hughton, who he previously assisted as Newcastle as the club won promotion from the Championship.
In the event a vacancy does arise at Hibernian it is possible Shamrock Rovers boss Michael O’Neill, who spent three years at the club as a player, could emerge as a candidate for the position.
Joe Murphy completed his move from Scunthorpe to Coventry City last night and will head to Portugal with his team-mates at the weekend. “Joe is proven quality,” said City manager Andy Thorn. “He’s an international and I’ve liked him for a long time.”
Chris McCann has signed a new two-year contract with Burnley while former Derry City player Mark McChrystal has extended his stay at Tranmere Rovers and Jonathan Douglas has moved from Swindon Town to Brentford.
“He will add an enormous amount of experience and quality to our squad,” said Brentford manager Uwe Rosler of the 29-year-old. “Jonathan is a player that attracted a lot of attention from many other clubs. We were aware of his situation early on and we are fortunate to get him.”
Elsewhere, Manchester United defender John O’Shea is expected to sign for Sunderland early next week. Alex Ferguson agreed to sell the Irishman, as well as Wes Brown and Darron Gibson, to the Wearside club last month. O’Shea is the first of the three players to accept a deal.
The Sunderland manager, Steve Bruce has completed the signing of Ji Dong-won from the South Korean club Chunnam Dragons, for a fee believed to be more than €1.1 million. A fraction under 6ft 2in, the 20-year-old, who had a trial with Reading in 2007-08 and has attracted interest from Newcastle and PSV Eindhoven after scoring six goals in 11 appearances for South Korea. He has signed a three-year contract.
The Sunderland manager has also concluded the €6.6 million signing of the midfielder Craig Gardner from Birmingham City.
