Gypsies look to bring in Greene

Pat Fenlon arguably has the strongest squad ahead of the 2010 season, yet he is still looking to add to it as Bohemians close in on the signing of Aaron Greene.

Having signed the likes of Chris O'Connor, Barry Murphy, Stephen Gray, Gareth McGlynn, Ruaidhri Higgins, Raffaele Cretaro and Mark Quigley since the end of the 2009 season, it certainly looks like Bohs will have plenty of strength in depth as they begin their bid to secure a third league title in-a-row.

However, they are not quite done yet and, as Pat Fenlon revealed when that they hope to secure the signing of Clondalkin native Aaron Greene in the next few days, provided they can send a few of their current squad members out on loan to other clubs.

“We're working on getting one or two lads out on loan. We're hopeful that we might be able to complete the signing of Aaron Greene in the next few days as well," said Fenlon.

"That will obviously depend on fellas going out on loan. Within the next 24 hours, 48 hours, we should be able to do that. That will probably be the end of it then I think."

Greene is a player that Fenlon sees, along with the likes of Paddy Madden and Ryan McEvoy, as being key to the future of the Phibsboro giants.

"He is a decent player [Greene]. Obviously, I think Peterborough [United] offered him a lengthy contract to sign there, but whatever problems there were it didn't work out for him," stated the Bohs boss.

"He's been in training with us since the start of pre-season, he's been very good, he's only a young player. We've a fair few young players, the squad has probably changed around the last two years, we've introduced a fair few young players into it.

"He's another one like Paddy [Madden], Marc Hughes and Ryan McEvoy, that we're looking to the future with. Obviously we want to get him in. It's a good opportunity to get a decent player, who has a little bit of experience of playing in the league at that age as well. He did well last year at Galway, played in a fair few good games with them. We'd be delighted to have him in the next days."

Greene's form for Galway certainly did catch the eye last term, as he scored some crucial goals to steer The Tribesmen to safety in the Premier Division, having previously been on trial with Kildare County.

The 19-year-old has played most of his football up front, but Fenlon sees him more as an extra option on the left-wing, where Killian Brennan is the current custodian.

"The good thing about Aaron is that he's left-sided, which gives us an option with Killian wide on the left. We think we can work on him in relation to playing wide," he explained.

"He's played a lot of his football up front. I think he can play in the wider areas as well. There's not too many lefties around at the moment. We've probably got the best one in Killian. Obviously, he needs a bit of competition for places as well. When you get a player who can play in one or two different positions, then it can be useful."

On the issue of the new players coming in, Fenlon was quick to point out not just the quality that they possess as footballers, but also the desire and hunger they will have to be successful at Bohs.

"They're good players. I think people have said that they are experienced players and they're quality players. The one thing from my end of it is, they haven't won too many things," said Fenlon.

"[That] brings in a little bit of hunger, which you need every season. Some of them have gone close with Derry a few times, but we want to bring in people who want to win things. That's what we're about.

"We've lost the likes of Crowie [Glen Crowe] and Fennie [Neale Fenn], who were big players the last couples of years. Patricularly Glen has been a big player over a longer period of time. That was difficult to make that decision, probably the hardest decision I've had to make in football. Sometimes you've got to look to the future, and we've got some good players coming through in that area of the pitch."