Derry City to enter race for Crystal Palace defender ahead of transfer deadline
DERRY City Football Club is understood to be interested in bringing Ireland U21 international defender Seán Grehan to Brandywell on a loan deal from English Premiership outfit Crystal Palace.
Tiernan Lynch has made no secret of his desire to bring in a centre back with 'a certain type of character' before the League of Ireland's transfer window closes at 23:59pm this Saturday but the Derry boss could find himself in a battle with Bohemians for the Dubliner youngster's signature.
The City boss is understood to have several irons in the fire and the club is frantically scouring the market in search of defensive reinforcements.
The Candy Stripes had made preliminary enquiries about the availability of experienced Scottish centre half Kevin Holt - out of contract in the summer - but didn't follow up with an official bid for the Dundee United player.
Holt sat out the 3-0 loss to Celtic last weekend as a precaution according to Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin who insists his player is going nowhere.
"We've not had anything on Kevin and he won't be going anywhere," he declared. "It would leave us short in that area and we aren't going to do that to ourselves."
No-nonsense Crystal Palace youngster Grehan is also on Bohs boss Alan Reynolds' radar and as an ex-player at Bohemians who graduated from St Kevin's Boys, the Dublin club perhaps would have an upper hand in a battle for his signature.
Grehan, who won the FAI's U19 International Player of the Year in 2023, signed for Palace from Bohs following a trial at Selhurst Park in August 2022.
He played on loan at Carlisle United last year but was recalled in April after just three brief substitute appearances since making a January move. He can play right or left side centre back and has an eye for goal. In fact he netted a stunning strike at Brandywell for Bohemians in the Enda McGuill Cup Final loss to Derry in 2021.
City boss Lynch admits he would 'love' to bring in another defender before Saturday's deadline but would be doing his due diligence.
"No comment," he laughed when asked if chairman Philip O'Doherty had given him extra money in his budget as a birthday present this week.
When pressed on potential comings or goings before the weekend, he added; "There's a huge amount of work going on in the background here. We would love to try and do something. What I'm not doing is bringing someone in for the sake of bringing someone in.
"Even after one game I've learned very quickly it's a certain type of character that needs to come into this football club. This is not just about good footballers or where they've played, this is about having a very certain type of mindset and character to do what we want to do and go where we want to go."