inverness take a chance on defender after pressley miss
Brewster shows he’s a Byrne gambler
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After missing out on Steven Pressley, Caley Thistle manager Craig Brewster is prepared to gamble on Irish defender Richie Byrne’s fitness woes being behind him.
Brewster yesterday completed the signing of former Aberdeen and Dunfermline defender Byrne until the end of the season after Pressley’s decision to join SPL rivals Falkirk instead.
Byrne, who has been hampered by hamstring problems throughout his career, becomes Caley Thistle’s fourth January signing after Filipe Morais, Thierry Gathuessi and Pavels Mihadjuks.
Brewster reckons Byrne, who has been without a club for three months, will be a useful addition to his squad.
He said: “Richie has been out for a long time with injuries and it is an opportunity to get him fully fit.
“If I can get him fully fit he will be a major asset to the club.
“Richie has trained with us over the last few days but he will not be ready for Saturday.
“He is still a couple of weeks away from full fitness.
“It is not costing us much money to bring him in, so this is the opportunity for Richie to come into an environment where we are really going to look after him and push him to get fit.
“Pressley is a no. He said he had another option.”
Brewster hopes to trim his squad to create space for the new arrivals.
Centre back Guy Kerr, 20, who is on loan at Third Division Elgin City, has been freed, while 21-year-old forwards Rory McAllister and Zander Sutherland and French defender Lionel Djebi-Zadi have been made available for loan.
McAllister and Djebi-Zadi will then be allowed to leave when their contracts expire in the summer, although no decision has yet been made on Sutherland, who was on loan at Elgin City last season.
Iain Vigurs, who scored in Saturday’s Scottish Cup victory against Partick Thistle, is considering an offer of a new contract.
Brewster said: “We will be monitoring Zander closely. Graeme Bennett made an offer to Iain Vigurs and we are waiting for him to come back to us.”
Chester City midfielder Tony Dinning has impressed in his first two days on trial at Caledonian Stadium but the manager has not put a timescale on deciding whether to offer the 33-year-old a deal.
He said: “Tony has done fine for us. he is certainly not a shy boy. He is confident, has been around and certainly knows how to play the game.
“We will see how he does. He has a family as well, so there are different things we have to consider.”
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