Sligo Rovers have boosted their chances of survival in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division by swooping for Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe.
The former Derry City ace was the Premier Division's top scorer last season, scoring 14 goals to help propel Derry City back into Europe.
However Sligo are bottom of the top flight table with no points from their opening four fixtures - and have only 14 games to turn things around.
Junior will join the Bit O'Red for the rest of the season from Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Hadera, pending a work permit and international clearance, and will join up with his new team-mates after spending two weeks in quarantine.
“I’m very happy to be back in the League of Ireland," the 26-year-old said. "I really liked the league here and I’m excited by the challenge of coming to Sligo Rovers.
"I know they haven’t picked up the results wanted at the start of the season and there’s only 14 games to play. I’m looking to take it step by step and win a few games as soon as we can.
“It has been a frustrating year for me. I left Israel when the league was stopped due to Covid-19 and I just wanted to be closer to home. When the offer came in to be back in the League of Ireland, it appealed to me.
“I remember Sligo were tough opponents. My time at Derry was great, getting to Europe and there is good football played in Ireland.
"This spell I hope to get more goals and help Sligo get up the table for the next months. I’m very keen to be back on the pitch as soon as possible.”
Rovers boss Liam Buckley admits that the club want the former Colchester striker to "hit the ground running" as soon as he's eligible - and said that he's still on the look-out for new talent.
"It’s a very good signing for us I feel, we’re looking for Junior to come in and hit the ground running as soon as he’s eligible to be involved," said Buckley.
“We have some good options in the forward area, Junior can play across the front three and he scored some very good goals last season. I remember in particular he did well against us, so we’re very aware of his talent.
“We know he can be a very good player in this league and we want him to have the same impact here that he had with Derry City.
“The Israeli League is a good standard and I think he would have showed his ability there if Covid-19 hadn’t changed the landscape.
"It is to our benefit that he wanted to come back to these shores, so I’m delighted he is a Sligo Rovers player now.
“We’re still in the market, but there is nothing further to say on that right now. We have a friendly on Saturday in Galway and we’re gearing up for next Friday’s game in Derry.
"Every game is going to be very important and we’ll need to be ready for a hard game".
