Ex Stoke City defender on Derry City radar

A move for the 21 years-old left sided centre half, who can also operate at left-back, would soften the blow of losing the influential Gilchrist who could miss at least two weeks after sustaining a suspected stress fracture of his foot during training.

The Scotsman attended a specialist this evening (Monday) and will discover the extent of his injury, however, Devine doesn't expect the experienced defender to be sidelined for too long.

Former Luton Town defender, McJannett played alongside Derry winger, Jake Dunwoody during his time with the Potters’ U23 side and could potentially reunite with his former teammate in the coming days.

Devine revealed the player has been at Brandywell to have a look at the facilities with a view to signing and he’s been impressed with the players’ willingness to strike a deal as he trained on a ‘one-on-one basis’ due to quarantine restrictions.

“We have a young fella in to have a look around and see the set-up more than anything else at the minute.

“He’s a 21 years-old centre back and obviously with the injury sustained by Ally, we have to look at the kid and he’s having a look at us.

“He’s definitely on our radar,” he admitted. “We’re just speaking to him at the minute but we’ll see what develops over the next few days. He’s training on a one-to-one basis at the minute.”

Fresh from the disappointing 1-1 draw against Shelbourne at Tolka Park last Saturday, Devine is preparing for three crucial games in a 10 day period starting with Cork City at home this Friday night.

Commenting before travelling to tonight’s First Division clash between Derry’s FAI Cup second round opponents, Drogheda, who host Galway United, Devine said he has full belief in his squad to turn around their league form.

“We have three tough games coming up against Cork, the European game and then Drogheda which are all tough games in their own right,” he said.

“But we have to get three points against Cork, there’s no doubt about it. We need to try to get through a round in Europe and then when we get back we have to try and progress in the FAI Cup.

“So we have three huge games inside the next 10 days. We reflected today on the result at the weekend and spoke about giving away soft goals and that’s what we basically have to nullify.

“We have to analyse the fact we’ve been ahead in three games this year and have taken one point from those three games. That’s an eight point drop from winning positions and something we have to rectify.

“The nature of this league this year is an unforgiving one. But the bottom line is I have a lot of faith in this team and there’s a lot of talent within the group.

"A debut goal for James Akintunde, a debut goal for Ibrahim Meite and a really good performance from Adam Hammill when he came on the pitch on Saturday.

"All these guys are at different levels in terms of fitness and it's up to us now to get them up to speed as quickly as possible.

"When we do that I've no doubt our squad will be very, very strong. I have 100 per cent belief in this group of players,” concluded the City manager.