PADDY McCOURT IS leaving Luton Town a year ahead of schedule.
The League Two club announced today that the Derry-born winger plans to return to Ireland after requesting an early release from the two-year contract he signed last summer.
“Paddy has had to face up to some personal problems in recent weeks and at the end of the season he came to me about his future and it was soon clear to me that he wanted to return to Northern Ireland to be closer to his family and to play there again.
“It wasn’t a straightforward decision for me. Paddy has done well for us, but in the end we reached an agreement and he goes with my blessing,” said Luton Town manager Nathan Jones.
McCourt, who has been capped 17 times by Northern Ireland but hasn’t been included in their provisional Euro 2016 squad, played 26 times for Luton this past season.
The 32-year-old joined the Hatters last July after a season as a Brighton & Hove Albion player, the latter stages of which he spent on loan at Notts County. McCourt previously had a season at Barnsley after a five-year stint at Celtic came to an end.
McCourt began his professional career at Rochdale before joining Shamrock Rovers in 2005. After lighting up the League of Ireland for the Hoops, financial difficulties forced the Dublin club to sell McCourt to Derry City, where he continued to impress until being snapped up by Celtic in ’08.
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