EX-CAT THRILLED TO BE BLADES’ RECORD BUY
FORMER SUNDERLAND DEFENDER JOHN EGAN JOINS SHEFFIELD UNITED IN £4M-PLUS DEAL
Former Sunderland centreback John Egan is relishing a second crack at Championship club Sheffield United after becoming the Blades’ record signing last night.
The 25-year-old Irishman returns to Bramall Lane in a £4million-plus move from Brentford, six years after a brief stint with United as a rookie on loan from the Black Cats.
The move ends an 18-month wait for Blades boss Chris Wilder to land the defender.
Cork-born Egan said: “It’s been a long time since I was first here, but it fantastic to be back at such a big club.
“When a manager, especially one of Chris’s stature wants to sign you so much, as a player it makes you feel really wanted.
“As soon as I heard of United’s interest and, having spoken to the manager, I was eager to get the deal over the line.”
The Republic of Ireland added: “I’ve had two fantastic years at Brentford – I can’t speak about them highly enough and we had a very good team there.
“But now I really want to kick on at Sheffield United. I love a team in red and white stripes and I just can’t wait to get going again at Bramall Lane.”
Wilder said: “John has been our number one target in that position throughout the summer.
“We see him as a leader and he is worthy of the fee we’ve paid for him.”
The capture of Egan will allow Wilder to concentrate on the search for two new centre-forwards, with Ipswich Town’s ex-Sunderland striker Martyn Waghorn understood to feature highly on his wanted list.
With talks aimed at triggering Waghorn’s release still on-going, it remains unclear whether he will recruited in time to face Inter Milan in Tuesday’s friendly, or if a deal can be completed at all.
United’s hopes of landing Aston Villa frontman Scott Hogan are receding, with Steve Bruce’s men refusing so far to consider a loan deal.
Rosenborg have sacked manager Kare Ingebrigtsen less than a week before they face Celtic in the Champions League second qualifying round.
He had been in charge for a 3-1 win over Valur on Wednesday, setting up a second crack at Brendan Rodgers’ Scottish champions for the second year in a row, but left the club yesterday, despite leading them to three successive league titles.
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is ready to send midfielder Greg Docherty out on loan after warning the exHamilton man that he might struggle for regular action at Ibrox this season.
Arsenal’s Nigerian-born midfielder Kelechi Nwakali, 20, will spend the coming season on loan at Portuguese giants Porto.