JAMIE’S MOVE EXCITES KENNY
JAMIE McGRATH escaped his Wigan nightmare after joining Dundee United and could make his bow in Europe tonight.
The Tannadice outfit host AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League and McGrath is set to be cleared to play after joining on a season-long loan.
And Stephen Kenny has hinted that
McGrath could be reinstated to the Ireland squad once he gets regular games for the Tangerines.
Attacking midfielder McGrath — who was also chased by Aberdeen — left St Mirren on transfer deadline day and joined Wigan on a two-and-ahalf year deal.
But the 25-year-old made just four brief appearances over the second half of the season.
And he was not in Leam Richardson’s plans this season as the Latics face into a Championship campaign following promotion.
McGrath played for Kenny at Dundalk and has made an impression in his six appearances for Ireland to date since breaking through last summer.
Forced
But with no club action at Wigan, Kenny was forced to drop McGrath from his plans and the Meathman wasn’t in the squad for any of the six games played this year.
Kenny said: “It’s not that he hadn’t kicked on, he hasn’t hardly kicked a ball. It’s a move that hasn’t gone well for whatever reason not through any fault of his own.
“He was training well by all accounts. I spoke to him last week because I was interested to see where he was and there was interest from a few clubs in Scotland.
“He definitely needs to play and he’s a good player, he’s technically very good but he’s hugely mobile and has a tremendous out of possession shift.”
McGrath is no stranger to the Scottish Premier League having scored 18 goals in 79 games for St Mirren before the Wigan move.