O'Neill brings in experience for Europa campaign

AIRTRICITY LEAGUE TRANSFER NEWS:MICHAEL O'NEILL yesterday moved to add experience and broaden his options ahead of Shamrock Rovers' Europa League group stage campaign with the Northerner adding Rohan Ricketts and Jim Paterson to his squad.

The club confirmed, however, agreement had been reached with Aston Villa for the sale of left back Enda Stevens in a deal that, if all of the add-ons were to materialise, is believed to be worth in the region of €500,000 to the Irish side.

The new arrivals, insists O’Neill, will add quality and huge experience to his pool of players as they head into what is bound to be a testing few months.

Paterson, a left-sided player who can play wide in midfield or in central defence but who has primarily been used as a left back in recent seasons, has, at 31, almost 15 years of first-team football under his belt with Dundee United, Motherwell and Plymouth Argyle in the SPL and Championship.

Ricketts, meanwhile, is a creative midfielder who has been about a bit since playing just over 30 times for Tottenham’s first team and making around 50 appearances at Wolves.

In the years since, the 28-year-old has had stints in Canada, Moldova and Germany and has put together an interesting media career on the side, working as both a radio presenter and online magazine editor at times.

Both had trials in England over the last few weeks but have now opted to sign for Rovers as free agents until the end of the European campaign.

“It’s been difficult, we only had five days really to find players that had the quality and were positionally what we were looking for but we’re very happy to have signed Jim and Rohan,” said O’Neill last night.

Paterson will, amongst other things, provide competition for Stevens until he leaves the club for Villa in January. “We’re glad to be hanging on to Enda until then but it’s a good move for him in the long term,” said O’Neill. “He’s got all the attributes to go on and be a top-class full back in the Premier League.

“His best games for us have been in Europe, he’s at his best when he’s stretched. I have no doubt that if Alex McLeish told him he was going to play him in the Premier League immediately after arriving, he’d take it in his stride. I’d expect to see him in the international squad in the not too distant future.

The deal is said to involve a “significant” initial payment plus various add-ons and a commitment by the English side to visit Tallaght for a friendly game.