2022 Season, Arrivals and Departures

[Jack B]

Matthew Connor (I think) was in goal for us in the second half of the friendly against Bohs, so that looks like as well as Joseph Anang coming in on loan from West Ham who is also a keeper.

According to Tim Clancy there's also still an offer on the table for Matty Smith from over a month ago, but I'd be surprised if anything came of it at this stage. Had a trialist in Shayon Harrison playing against Bohs who covers the same kind of positions as Smith does so in the event those three get announced that's almost certainly it for us.

[D24Saint]

Matthew Connor (I think) was in goal for us in the second half of the friendly against Bohs, so that looks like as well as Joseph Anang coming in on loan from West Ham who is also a keeper.

According to Tim Clancy there's also still an offer on the table for Matty Smith from over a month ago, but I'd be surprised if anything came of it at this stage. Had a trialist in Shayon Harrison playing against Bohs who covers the same kind of positions as Smith does so in the event those three get announced that's almost certainly it for us.

Joseph Anang - Player profile 21/22 | Transfermarkt (https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joseph-anang/profil/spieler/576099)

He could be a good signing. He has the height to make a decent keeper.

[2 Year Contract]

Good few Italian news outlets reporting that James Abankwah of Pats is a target for Udinese

[D24Saint]

Good few Italian news outlets reporting that James Abankwah of Pats is a target for Udinese

Not sure what kind of deal he is currently on. I’d be disappointed to lose him. He looks a great prospect.

[D24Saint]

According to the gazzetta dello sport it’s a done deal with him staying at Pats for the season ahead.

[Longfordian]

I think the report is saying he'll stay at Pats until the end of the Italian season, rather than the LOI season. They're probably unaware there's a difference.

[2 Year Contract]

Not sure what kind of deal he is currently on. I’d be disappointed to lose him. He looks a great prospect.
Signed a multi year pro contract last summer (along with Darragh Burns, Ben McCormack and Adam Murphy) so we'll get a transfer fee for him anyways.


I think the report is saying he'll stay at Pats until the end of the Italian season, rather than the LOI season.
Yeah looks that way alright. Even so it’ll be of good benefit to pats having him for the first half of the season given there’s usually a lot more midweek games in the first half of the season.

[joey B]

Do people expect many more signings for their teams?

Rumors there will be two more for Dundalk, a full-back and an attacker.

We’re rumoured to have signed an American and Croatian striker,maybe their just on trial but nothing official from the club yet….

[Jack B]

I THINK Abankwah's contract is til 2023 so should give us some good leeway at least. He looks like he'll be a fantastic player, would be sad to lose him but it's a great move and probably better it happens this season rather than down the line when he'd inevitably have cemented himself as first choice and became harder to replace.

[Longfordian]

He played schoolboy football in Longford at one stage. Don't know if he or his family are still based around here but if he makes it to the first team he's definitely going to be claimed as the first Longford man ever to play in Serie A.

[2 Year Contract]

He played schoolboy football in Longford at one stage. Don't know if he or his family are still based around here but if he makes it to the first team he's definitely going to be claimed as the first Longford man ever to play in Serie A.

I believe the family lived in Donegal before living in Longford where he played locally with Melview. They moved to Dublin after that where they’re based now which is how the move to Pats came about (via Cherry Orchard) and how Longford's underage side missed out on him

[Longfordian]

Still close enough if there's reflected glory to be had.

[Kiki Balboa]

One of the reasons I believe why transfer payments are so low for LOI players is that we are only selling to one market (Britain), as compared to other leagues who have the whole of Europe to sell to. Our players, who are just as good as some of these, go for multiples less, as there will be more competition for the player.

(For example, Dinamo Tibilsi, who came second in their league and last year lost to a Faroe Island team 6-1, just sold a player for nearly 1 million).

If Abankwah in anyway gets a good career, it might just be the most important transfer in the leagues development (opening greater competition for our players).

[D24Saint]

One of the reasons I believe why transfer payments are so low for LOI players is that we are only selling to one market (Britain), as compared to other leagues who have the whole of Europe to sell to. Our players, who are just as good as some of these, go for multiples less, as there will be more competition for the player.

(For example, Dinamo Tibilsi, who came second in their league and last year lost to a Faroe Island team 6-1, just sold a player for nearly 1 million).

If Abankwah in anyway gets a good career, it might just be the most important transfer in the leagues development (opening greater competition for our players).

The league really needs to start getting better fees or add ons for our young prospects. It will be interesting to see how he gets on in Italy. I think he had the potential to make it.

[pineapple stu]

I wonder how long that Tbilisi player was contracted for?

If we keep to one-year contracts, we won't be making any money.

And of course there's been a lot of flops who've made little impact in England. It's hard to say that Georgie Kelly (say) is worth €1m when you see Hoban, McMillan, Towell* and Burke struggle to make any impact in England before returning home.

If the LoI produces more players like McGrath, Scales, Bazunu, etc, though, the price will start to go up - and I think we're starting to see that. The same thing happened in the 00s when players like McClean, Hoolahan, Coleman, etc, were coming from the LoI - fees went up as the league's reputation went up.

(Not to say that solely selling to England/Scotland isn't a factor too - I'm sure it's a mix of a fair few things)

* - maybe a bit harsh putting Towell in with the others, but he certainly wasn't a million pound transfer.

[Bucket]

What other countries is he eligible to play with, if it comes to it?

[2 Year Contract]

The Abankwah fee will reportedly be a record uprfront fee for a League of Ireland player

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/football/8260668/udinese-james-abankwah-st-pats-transfer/


What other countries is he eligible to play with, if it comes to it?

Also eligible to play for Ghana

[kksaints]

What other countries is he eligible to play with, if it comes to it?

Think it's Ghana his family are from.

[Longfordian]

The Abankwah fee will reportedly be a record uprfront fee for a League of Ireland player

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/football/8260668/udinese-james-abankwah-st-pats-transfer/



Also eligible to play for Ghana

Nice. Hopefully Melview get a little slice of that.

[placid casual]

Fair balls to him if he gets a move to Udinese and a nice tidy sum for Pats.
Do we have any idea how much the sum is- surely the Trevor Francis moment is not far away in the LOI.

[Jack B]

According to Neil O'Riordan it's set to be the largest up front figure paid for a LOI player.

[sbgawa]

I never believe a word from that Rag the Sun.
Hopefully though there is a shred of truth in it for the Leagues sake.
We can wait for a reputable source paper

[Olander]

I never believe a word from that Rag the Sun.
Hopefully though there is a shred of truth in it for the Leagues sake.
We can wait for a reputable source paper
Alright alright calm down, this isn’t a Liverpool forum.

Neil O’Riordan is one of the most reliable Irish football journos going and the LOI coverage in the sun is among the best in the country, he’s usually spot on with his info.

[pineapple stu]

Have to say, imagine the difference it'd make to the league if, say, every club had one of these deals every other year?

[Bunny Kelly]

Have to say, imagine the difference it'd make to the league if, say, every club had one of these deals every other year?


While people may bemoan Sligo losing 2 talented young lads for 300k, that is a serious wedge for a league of ireland to take in, in a one off season. Hopefully more clubs will be happy to keep developing their own with the potential of these kind of returns

[sbgawa]

Alright alright calm down, this isn’t a Liverpool forum.

Neil O’Riordan is one of the most reliable Irish football journos going and the LOI coverage in the sun is among the best in the country, he’s usually spot on with his info.

Last think i am is a scouse git ;)

[Olé Olé]

One of the reasons I believe why transfer payments are so low for LOI players is that we are only selling to one market (Britain), as compared to other leagues who have the whole of Europe to sell to. Our players, who are just as good as some of these, go for multiples less, as there will be more competition for the player.

(For example, Dinamo Tibilsi, who came second in their league and last year lost to a Faroe Island team 6-1, just sold a player for nearly 1 million).

If Abankwah in anyway gets a good career, it might just be the most important transfer in the leagues development (opening greater competition for our players).

The 42 are reporting the Abankwah fee will exceed the up front €500k for Bazunu paid by Man City. He is slightly older but I don't think he is as well regarded as Bazunu was. Not directly comparable but it is interesting to see Abankwah move to Italy for more than Bazunu did to England.

[ontheotherhand]

Really encouraging from a league perspective. The Bazunu and Scales transfers felt like the start of something (you're all welcome). I remember Bradley talking on a podcast about how they were able to show Man City all the work that had gone into Bazunu to help bolster the case for his up front valuation and clauses etc. Him having played a European game probably helped as well. As the average age in the league goes down, contracts get longer and the academy set ups improve we should see more and more transfers like this. Pats 19s going so well in Europe last year probably hasn't hurt at all either. Wasn't Abankwah in that team? Did they play any Italian clubs on their run?

He looked really impressive the few times I saw him. Good luck to him.

[WeAreRovers]

Bazunu will be close to €2m when all add-ons are included, €1m paid already. Scales to Celtic was €600k so assumption is that Abankwah fee will be higher than that. He's a smashing player from what I've seen and great to see LOI players going to Serie A, Kevin Zefi is doing very well at Inter according to all reports.

[D24Saint]

Nice. Hopefully Melview get a little slice of that.

Whats the breakdown on that to his previous clubs ?

[2 Year Contract]

Pats 19s going so well in Europe last year probably hasn't hurt at all either. Wasn't Abankwah in that team? Did they play any Italian clubs on their run?

He looked really impressive the few times I saw him. Good luck to him.

The 19s just played Red Star Belgrade home and away, ran them close enough though considering they’ve got one of the best academies in Europe at that level. Abankwah didn’t feature in either game though as he was with the first team at the time

[ontheotherhand]

Ah I thought there was a bit of a run before that game.

Wonder how he ended up on Udinese's radar?

[Longfordian]

They have had a good reputation over the years of identifying young players from abroad that they think they can sell on in future so they probably have quite a few scouts throughout Europe. Bruno Fernandes and Alexis Sanchez would be two high profile ones that spring to mind but there are plenty more no doubt.

[D24Saint]

The winners of the tie was to play Empoli. Id be surprised if there is any connection as he wasn't involved in the games. We did ok in the home leg against Red Star and should have got a better result. I wasn't that hopeful for the away leg.

[Martinho II]

Good few Italian news outlets reporting that James Abankwah of Pats is a target for Udinese

Any idea Wot age did James Abankwah move to Dublin as he started with longford schoolboy side Melview FC?I never heard of him before until he showed up with St Pats!

[2 Year Contract]

Any idea Wot age did James Abankwah move to Dublin as he started with longford schoolboy side Melview FC?I never heard of him before until he showed up with St Pats!

Dont know what age he moved to Dublin but he joined Pats from Cherry Orchard at age 14 going on 15 in January 2019, not sure how long he’d been at Orchard prior to that

[pateen]

The 42 are reporting the Abankwah fee will exceed the up front €500k for Bazunu paid by Man City. He is slightly older but I don't think he is as well regarded as Bazunu was. Not directly comparable but it is interesting to see Abankwah move to Italy for more than Bazunu did to England.

Anyone care to remember what Roy O Donovan went to Sunderland for. Thought it was in the region of 625K?

[D24Saint]

Anyone care to remember what Roy O Donovan went to Sunderland for. Thought it was in the region of 625K?

I checked and the article I read said it was 500k he went for.

[Jd2793]

drogs signed 2 lads on loan from lincoln, roughan should be a v good signing. think they'll be ok , bit of a gap there now between themselves and harps/ucd

[SeanDrog]

drogs signed 2 lads on loan from lincoln, roughan should be a v good signing. think they'll be ok , bit of a gap there now between themselves and harps/ucd

Doherty has done amazingly well in rebuilding the squad - I really do think we are stronger than last season, given the spend of other clubs a good result for us this year is 7th, anything else will be a bonus.

[pineapple stu]

drogs signed 2 lads on loan from lincoln, roughan should be a v good signing. think they'll be ok , bit of a gap there now between themselves and harps/ucd
Going to be interesting at the bottom alright. I think Whelan is the only player we're likely to lose in mid-season. Seems everyone else is still around. That's a rarity for us lately, and given that we did reasonably well against the Premier sides in the Cup (including Shels), that has to give us a chance at staying up.

[total hoofball]

Does anyone know what is going on with Athlone? I can only make out 4 players re-signed and they have recently lost Adam Wixted, Dylan Hand, Dan McKenna and Ray O'Sullivan who all signed for the struggling Warrenpoint Town

And on that related point Warrenpoint basically look like the 20th LOI club going by my count at least 15 ex-LOI players from Dublin they have in their squad. Do they train in Dublin and are they paying crazy expenses?

[Jd2793]

Going to be interesting at the bottom alright. I think Whelan is the only player we're likely to lose in mid-season. Seems everyone else is still around. That's a rarity for us lately, and given that we did reasonably well against the Premier sides in the Cup (including Shels), that has to give us a chance at staying up.

ya id expect there to be interest in himself and kerrigan throughout the season tbh 2 cracking talents. big job on but ye will have always have a chance when whelan is involved. great experience for some of the younger ones in the squad too for the inevitable rebuild that'll be needed when ye get raided

[joey B]

Does anyone know what is going on with Athlone? I can only make out 4 players re-signed and they have recently lost Adam Wixted, Dylan Hand, Dan McKenna and Ray O'Sullivan who all signed for the struggling Warrenpoint Town

And on that related point Warrenpoint basically look like the 20th LOI club going by my count at least 15 ex-LOI players from Dublin they have in their squad. Do they train in Dublin and are they paying crazy expenses?


https://www.westmeathindependent.ie/2022/01/19/athlone-town-consider-potential-uk-imports-in-trials/

Russell mentioning trialists from the UK in that article and others training but it dosent seem to be optimal having very few players signed at this stage of pre-season.....

[CraftyToePoke]

What other countries is he eligible to play with, if it comes to it?


Think it's Ghana his family are from.

He's Ghanaian born according to RTE, moved here young, doesn't say what age.

[Longfordian]

He's Ghanaian born according to RTE, moved here young, doesn't say what age.
"Born in Ireland with Ghanaian roots" according to Dan McDonnell's piece yesterday.

[WeAreRovers]

€400k up front fee approx according to Paul O'Hehir in the Mirror - https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/st-pats-teenager-james-abankwah-26059547#ICID=Android_IrishMirrorNewsApp_AppShare

[sbgawa]

And the scope to double it with add ons.
Its really shows you how small we are as a league (all of us inc Rovers) when a transfer of this size is game changing in terms of budget for a LOI team.
Its the kind of money that would almost be classed as a free transfer in the UK.
Anyway long may it last , we need the likes of McGrath, Scales etc to do well and build confidence in the LOI over there as well as further afield.

[Nesta99]

And the scope to double it with add ons.
Its really shows you how small we are as a league (all of us inc Rovers) when a transfer of this size is game changing in terms of budget for a LOI team.
Its the kind of money that would almost be classed as a free transfer in the UK.
Anyway long may it last , we need the likes of McGrath, Scales etc to do well and build confidence in the LOI over there as well as further afield.

Is that another way of saying they better damn well be a success so that Roadstone is a success and so DD will feck off quietly?

[2 Year Contract]

Saw a picture on twitter that the management agency of Cork City's Cathal Heffernan posted with him having just played for Bayer Leverkusen (presumably a trial game for a youth side), with a 'Soon ->' emoji so looks like he could be on his way to them. Good to see so many of the young expat Irish lads playing in Spain/France/Italy/Germany etc these days as opposed to just solely the UK in the past.