Celtic selling Johnny Kenny to Preston North End for around €3 million and Chiedozie Ogbene’s loan from Ipswich Town to Lincoln City until January are the highlight moves for Irish players in the now closed summer transfer window.
Kenny joins Andrew Moran and Cathal O’Sullivan at Preston with Sligo Rovers expected to receive €300,000 from the 23-year-old’s transfer due to a sell-on clause in the initial deal with Celtic.
Ogbene will link up with Mason Melia, on loan to Lincoln from Tottenham Hotspur, and former Shamrock Rovers wing back Josh Honohan.
“This is a good opportunity and a great platform for myself to help the club, but the club can also help me,” said Ogbene. “I’ve been around the Championship for a while, and I know it’s a physical league.”
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It is the 29-year-old’s seventh English club since he left Limerick in 2018 with his brief rise into the Premier League at Luton and Ipswich hampered by injury.
“You need a team that can buy in and pull in the same direction,” Ogbene continued. “Looking at this team and this football club, and the success of last year, the mindset here mirrors what I want to do, and I really want to be part of it.
“I bring pace and power, I’m willing to work hard and I’m energetic. I’ve got experience as well, so I’d hope that I can make an impact for the team and help the team on both sides of the pitch.
“I’ve played across the front three before, right wing and right wing back, so I’m versatile and I’m willing to give everything I have for this jersey.”
Two established Republic of Ireland internationals, Séamus Coleman and Will Smallbone, remain free agents having yet to secure clubs since leaving Everton and Southampton.
Evan Ferguson’s rumoured return to Italy from Brighton to Genoa did not happen before the September 1st deadline as the 21-year-old continues to recover from ankle surgery.
Eiran Cashin, however, did leave Brighton on loan to Derby County after making 29 appearances for the Rams last season in the Championship.
Talk of Jake O’Brien departing from Everton proved premature although Gavin Bazunu reunited with Bolton Wanderers director of football Fergal Harkin, leaving Southampton on a three-year deal.
Harkin, who is from Donegal, previously worked with Bazunu at Manchester City and Standard Liege in Belgium.
Elsewhere, Sheffield United loaned the former St Patrick’s Athletic defender Sam Curtis to League One side Cambridge United and the recently capped Tayo Adaramola signed for Cercle Brugge in Belgium.
