Ruaidhri Higgins delighted as Derry City capture ex-Liverpool man Andre Wisdom

The 31-year old can operate at centre half or right back and with a CV that includes almost 50 Premier League appearances at clubs including West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City, as well as a stint at Reb Bull Salzburg where he won the Austrian league and cup double, Wisdom will provide crucial experience at a critical time of the season.

“I'm not going to lie, and Andre will probably tell you the same story, but this was one of the most straightforward ones we've done," explained the Derry boss of his latest addition, "His career and his CV speaks for itself.

"He's had a bit of time out of the game. He came back into non-league football last year and got the feeling for it back again. He's done a full pre-season with Salford, played matches and he's ready to go. He's got that hunger back to go into full-time football again.

“If you'd even have mentioned his name three years ago, because I remember in my old job with the Republic of Ireland national team, I’d have watched Derby a lot because of the Irish players involved at the time and Andre was playing in those games and was outstanding; extremely consistent.

"That was only three years ago. We’re delighted to bring him here. He's got huge experience in the game, and he's a really, really strong character and he wants to win. He's got an opportunity over the next few months to come here and try and win something.”

An unprovoked attack by an armed gang in June 2020, during which Wisdom was stabbed multiple times, kept the Leeds native out of the game for almost 18 months but after a full pre-season with Gary Neville's Salford City, Higgins was delighted to agree a deal for a player Derby paid £3million for in 2017.

“He's just turned 31. He's not 36, 37," added Higgins, "He's just turned 31 and you can see how fit he is. He's still got years ahead of him, but what impressed me so much was that he didn't talk. I was asking him questions about Liverpool, etc but he just wanted to talk about us and wanted to talk about going forward and how we do things.

"That was the most impressive thing, but also his eagerness to get back into playing football. We think we can provide him that and give him the platform to get his career back on track because we all know what an outstanding player he can be.

“What he'll add to the group is personality, and obviously great experience and being good at his job. If we're going to achieve anything between now and November we need strong characters and people who have been in difficult situations because there's going to be times between now and the end of the season when things get edgy. That's when you need calm heads and that's when you need strong influences and characters - I think he'll bring all of that. Well, I know he'll bring all of that.”