BOHEMIANS HAVE BOOSTED their striker options with the signing of Andre Wright until the end of the season, subject to international clearance.
The 22-year-old English forward has spent the last 11 days on trial with Bohs, and started the 1-1 friendly draw with Chelsea earlier this month.
Wright’s strength and hold-up play was evidenced in that game with Chelsea, although his finishing and final product occasionally lacked conviction.
Wright is a product of West Brom’s academy, and his most recent club was Gloucester City in the sixth tier of English football.
Bohs have been left light up front since Dinny Corcoran suffered a long-term ankle injury in May, while Cristian Magerusan tore his cruciate ligament in January.
“Obviously since Dinny’s been out, our options have been curtailed and it was clear that we needed to strengthen up front”, said manager Keith Long.
“Andre has had a number of training sessions with us over the past two weeks and has impressed as he did in the 65 minutes or so he played against Chelsea.
“Ryan Swan needs support up front, it’s his first season playing Premier Division football and he can’t do it all on his own.
“We felt we needed to look further afield than just our own league to bring someone in who could make a difference.
“Andre was someone recommended to us by Alan Caffrey through his contacts in the UK and we did our own research on him.
It’s obviously a new league to him and a new environment. In terms of where he is fitness-wise, he’s towards the latter part of pre-season so he’s fit, not 100% match fit, but ready to feature in games. He’s excited to be here and looking forward to getting started.
“He’s had a few clubs since leaving West Brom so he wants a bit of stability in his career now and is determined to knuckled down and score goals for us between now and the end of the season and we believe he can.”
Bohs have been struggling for goals of late – the three goals they scored against Pat’s yesterday matched their total from the five games they played prior to that.
Following Wright’s arrival, the club have also confirmed that Sam Byrne has been released from his contract.
