St. Mirren have completed the signing of experienced defender Ian Harte.
The 31-year-old former Ireland international, who has been capped 64 times for his country, recently left Blackpool after a short spell with the Championship side.
And now he has joined the Saints on a deal until the end of the season, something that has delighted Gus MacPherson, the manager of the Scottish Premier League side.
"We had been looking to strengthen that area during the January transfer window,” MacPherson told BBC Sport.
"We are delighted to now have a player who has played at the highest level.
"He has not played as much football as he would have liked, but I saw him play for Blackpool and also for Sunderland's reserves.”
He added, "We needed cover for that area as Franco Miranda received surgery on Tuesday and will be out for four to six weeks and we had thought we would have to make do and shuffle the pack.
"He is not here for financial reasons. He says he has had very good contracts throughout his career but just wants to come here to play football."
The player’s agent, Willie McKay, admitted that the Buddies have pulled off an impressive coup in signing the former Leeds United and Levante left-back.
"It will be a coup for them," he stated. "Celtic were prepared to pay £2 million for him two years ago.
"Ian has had a great career. Money is not the objective. He wants to play football and to play for a team that wants him.
"He was just filling in at Blackpool because their other two left-backs were injured, but they are coming back now and they could not afford to keep him."
No comments:
Post a Comment