Ipswich Town will be getting ‘an old fashioned centre forward with great potential’ when they complete a deal for Waterford striker Aaron Drinan in January.
Mick McCarthy confirmed the teenage Irishman’s impending arrival in October following an extended trial in Suffolk, with a deal believed to include a small transfer fee and a sell-on clause set to be officially completed when the January transfer window opens.
Waterford owner Lee Power believes Portman Road is the perfect place for Drinan to develop and insisted the Blues will be getting a talented youngster similar in style to ex-Ipswich forward Daryl Murphy, who McCarthy brought to England from Waterford in 2005.
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“He (Drinan) only played four or five games with us before the end of the season after coming from Cork, but in those games you could see he was a real handful,” Power, a former Norwich striker who also owns League Two side Swindon Town, said.
“He is a good size, has ability, and we had two or three clubs straight away coming in to ask about him. The thing was we had promised him that if an offer from the Championship or higher came in then we would consider any reasonable offer. We stuck by our word on that.
“He went over and Mick had a look at him and he was really impressed. For the short space of time we had him you could tell that for his age he is ahead of where others are.
“We felt he was one of the top talents in Ireland and we’re really pleased he has the opportunity to go to a good football club.
“If anyone can develop someone like that then Mick can. He’s still a young lad but he’s a proper old fashioned centre forward, although he can play anywhere across a front three, but I think he will end up in the middle.”
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Drinan, who only joined Waterford from Cork in July and has experience in Ireland’s age group teams, arrives at a time when the Blues have a number of senior options in attack, with Martyn Waghorn, David McGoldrick and Joe Garner combining for 19 goals between them and Freddie Sears largely featuring as a substitute.
There is also the prospect of League One’s leading scorer, Kieffer Moore, returning to Portman Road in January following a highly-productive loan spell at Rotherham.
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