BOHEMIANS HAVE AGREED contracts with former Sunderland goalkeeper James Talbot and Wolves midfielder Conor Levingston.
Both players spent five years each in England and have represented Ireland at underage level all the way up to U19s.
Wexford-born Levingston broke through with Gorey Rangers before moving to the West Midlands in July 2014. The 20-year-old said that he was impressed with the Gypsies’ performances in 2018 and that he was encouraged to agree a deal.
“Bohs is a massive club and I’m looking forward to getting going,” he said. “This is a club with a great fanbase and the potential here is brilliant. I like to see myself as a box-to-box midfielder, hopefully I can score a few goals too.
“I’m competitive. I’ve watched the boys in the Cup semi-final and I was really impressed with what I saw. Hopefully I can add to that and hopefully we can go one step further. Everyone wants to win trophies and we want to aim for Europe.”
Finglas goalkeeper Talbot emerged with Home Farm before joining Sunderland in 2013. He made three appearances for the Black Cats’ in the EFL Trophy last season, but was sent on loan to sixth-tier Darlington in December where he received a three-match ban for a sending off on his second appearance.
The player returned to the Stadium of Light soon after, and on Monday Bohemians manager Keith Long said that he would be a welcome addition to compete alongside regular number one Shane Supple, who received his first Ireland call-up earlier this year and was named in the PFAI Team of the Season.
James gives us a different profile as a goalkeeper,” Long explained. “I believe he will come in and prove to be a very good acquisition for us.
“He’d five years’ schooling at Sunderland. He’s extremely talented and he’s a local boy too. There were high hopes for James at Sunderland where he came through with Jordan Pickford. He’s hungry to come in and prove himself.”
The Gypsies boss added that players like Talbot and Levingston were just the type of additions the Phibsborough club needed, with Bohemians losing a number of key personel including Ian Morris, Dan Byrne and Dan Casey in the last week.
These are the kind of players we want. We want to work with young, talented players who are hungry to show people what they can do. I’m delighted Conor has come in. He’s a young boy with a good pedigree, good standards and good habits having been a professional with Wolves.
“He’s ambitious. He’s had a good schoolboy international career and has played U23s for Wolves. He’s a new and exciting talent and I’m looking forward to working with him.
“It’s no secret that we didn’t want to lose Dan Casey,” Long added. “Morro has gone for other reasons – he’s got career ambitions to be a coach, to be a manager [with Shelbourne] and on a personal level, I wish him well.
“We’ve lost Dan Byrne, who feels he needs to being playing, and JJ Lunney to Waterford before that too so there is obviously an element of change once again amongst the squad.”
#Bohs are delighted to announce the signings of midfielder Conor Levingston and keeper James Talbot who join after five years at Wolves and Sunderland respectively.
— Bohemian FC 🔴⚫ (@bfcdublin) November 12, 2018
As well as new arrivals, Robbie McCourt and Cristian Magerusan have signed new deals: https://t.co/5jsWpGC5ow 🖋️ pic.twitter.com/CbqQ8gZBjB
The manager added that losing key players at the end of a promising campaign where his side finished in sixth place and made it to the semi-finals of the FAI Cup was disappointing.
“It’s difficult when the likes of Cork and Waterford come in for players given the resources they have behind them. We wanted to try and keep as much of the squad as we could together.
“We’re talking to others at the club and from outside as well. We’ve deals agreed in principle with some that we’re not quite in a position to announce yet and others on holidays but we’ll hopefully have more news in the near future.”
On Monday the Dalymount Park club also confirmed that Robbie McCourt and striker Cristian Magerusan had agreed new deals ahead of 2019.
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