Cork City manager John Caulfield is expecting significant changes to his strikeforce to occur in the coming weeks.
The Premier Division and FAI Cup winners swept all before them aside for the two thirds of the campaign just gone, but struggled for goals once striker Sean Maguire, the league’s top scorer in 2017 with 20, departed for Preston North End in July.
Josh O’Hanlon has been signed from St. Patrick’s Athletic in the close season, and while Caulfield expects another one in the door before the season begins, signing one from Ireland or England could be problematic:
“I want to bring in guys who can compete with each other so if one guy is missing someone else can come in and do the business and put the ball in the back of the net. I’ve met a few people. I don’t think there’s anyone in Ireland I’ll get.
“You have guys at some clubs in League Two in England on £150,000 a year. There are certain clubs where the average might be £50,000 a year but that’s the lowest of them. Guys at that level over there are on much better contracts than here.
“Sometimes Europe is easier because there are fellas floating around, places like Holland and Belgium. They don’t look at the Irish market enough. We have to promote ourselves and show that if they can get into a top team here and do well, they can get a move over.”
via the Irish Times
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Leeds striker Eoghan Stokes had been linked with a move to Turner’s Cross in July, but Caulfield was quick to shoot that notion down. The Leesiders’ boss also suggested that Achille Campion is likely to leave the club before the start of the new season. The French striker, scorer of the equaliser in this year’s FAI Cup final which City later went on to win on penalties, is under contract for 2018 but Caulfield says that Campion has options that he will likely look at:
“Campion is under contract, we’re in discussions at the moment, but he has a few options of moving on and I reckon he’ll probably explore those.”
Cork City have strengthened last season’s squad with the arrivals of O’Hanlon, Colm Horgan, Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Barry McNamee and Aaron Barry, while the vasy majority of the title-winning party have signed signed on for 2018 at least.
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In this week’s episode of the Mixer Irish Football Podcast, we chat to Waterford head coach ahead of his side’s return to the Premier Division, as well as discussing the latest League of Ireland transfer news.
https://soundcloud.com/punditarenairishfootball/waterford-united-head-coach-alan-reynolds-joins-us-to-discuss-waterfords-transfers
Read More About: achille campion, cork city, Eoghan Stokes, john caulfield, josh o'hanlon, LOI Premier Division
