Sligo Rovers Youngster Secures Toffees Move

Sligo Rovers right back has finally completed his move to Everton after indecision over his future. In December the Donegal-born Ireland U21 defender went over to Birmingham City for a trial. He looked like he was likely to follow St. Pat’s midfielder Keith Fahey to St. Andrews but with interest from Celtic and the blue side of Liverpool, the deal never materialised.

On 4th February David Moyes confirmed the deal:

“He is a young boy who has come in and he will join Andy Holden in the reserves.

“He’s come in from Sligo, he’s someone who has been flagged up by the scouts.

“We’ll give him an opportunity and hopefully he can step up to the first team in time.”

Fairly encouraging words from the Blues boss. Hopefully Coleman can perform well in the reserves and get a chance. And if anyone’s going to give him a chance it’s Moyes.

Aside from his arrival at Everton, Coleman spoke to the Official Sligo Rovers Website with regards to his excitement at joining an EPL club and his gratitude to the Bit O’ Red:

“It is Premier League football. It was kind of hard to believe at first to be honest. The transfer took a lot of time and I was hearing a lot of things before pre-season and when we started back. If the move had not worked out, I was still looking forward to playing with Sligo because there were a lot of things to play for this year.

“I loved my time at Sligo. It started properly for me when Leo Tierney and Dessie Cawley were in charge and they put me in the team and then Paul Cook afterwards. I really enjoyed myself.”

Coleman concluded:

“The deal was great for the club and great for me. I’d like to thank all the fans and hopefully I’ll be over in the summer in The Showgrounds again.”

It’s great to see another Irishman moving over to an English club. It’s possibly a sign of more talent developing in the Eircom League, despite the harrowing times affecting the league. Hopefully this is just the beginning of promising Irish talent joining the EPL.