Derry City Manager Kenny Shiels to run his eye over SEVEN trial players

Kenny Shiels will run the rule over SEVEN players who will visit Derry City on trial over the next week.

The City boss has been busy trying to finalise his squad for the forthcoming league of Ireland season, which begins on February 24 against Bohemians and has been working hard to find  players of the calibre of Niclas Vemmelund who arrived at the Brandywell an unknown, but left  an unequivocal success at the end of the season.

With City’s pre-season schedule of games set to begin with a game against Dutch side RKSV Leonidis on February 14, Shiels is eager to finalise his squad as soon as possible and he is optimistic that he will find the players needed to complete his squad within the new arrivals.

“I’ll get the players in this week and there will be a few of them playing on Wednesday night against Letterkenny Rovers,” Shiels explained. “It’s a good way to see if they measure up to what we are looking for. I’m hopeful  that I can find what I’m looking for with within this group. ”

The only new arrival at the Brandywell so far in the close season has been Mark Timlin, who returned from St. Patrick’s Athletic but former Leeds United and Cork City goalkeeper Eric Grimes is set to finalise his deal at Derry today, while Lukas Schubert is set to return to the club as early as next week to sign a new contract. Shiels remains eager to add two new faces to his squad with a centre-half and a deep-lying midfielder at the top of his list.

Derry City’s pre-season schedule is about to kick off in earnest with the squad set to travel to the Netherlands next weekend before travelling to Dublin for three quick-fire games in early February. The Candy Stripes will come up against UCD on Monday, February 6, against Cabinteely on Tuesday, February 7 and against Shelbourne on Wednesday, February 8.