Galway United have snapped up Belgian left-back Timo Parthoens, subject to international clearance.
Parthoens, 21, joins the Tribesmen having previously spent two weeks with the club. He previously played for Finnish club HIFK Helsinki and had academy experience with Belgian sides Sint-Truidense VV and Lommel Sk, as well as Dutch outfit Roda JC.
He will battle it out with the experienced Marc Ludden for the left-back role.
"Timo is a really exciting young player for the future," said Galway boss Alan Murphy.
"He spent two weeks with us last year and really impressed, not just with his technical ability, but also with the drive and ambition that he showed to make it at this level.
"Timo returns to the club and really looks to have matured and taken his strength and conditioning program seriously in the off season.
"He came to the club after being recommended by several people, one of those being Sami Ristila, who knows what it takes to be a League of Ireland player.
"Timo is a really exciting prospect for ourselves and hopefully he can develop into the player that we expect him to become".
If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
