Patience has paid off for Huntly manager Allan Hale with the signing of Ryan Sewell from Lossiemouth.
The 23-year-old has penned a contract until the summer of 2025 with the Black and Golds.
The midfielder has been on Hale’s radar since December 2020 when he scored against Huntly in a 2-2 draw at Grant Park.
Sewell is the second player to leave the Coasters for Christie Park recently after striker Brodie Allen moved earlier this month.
Hale said: “Ryan has been on our radar ever since we played Lossiemouth in December 2020.
“I think Ryan’s a player who takes responsibility when he’s on the pitch and a lot of good stuff Lossie do went through him.
“He’s really intelligent in terms of getting on the ball and how he uses it, but he also scores goals which is a vital part of being a midfielder.
“He ticks a lot of boxes in terms of players who will fit into how we want to play.
“In the game in December 2020 he scored an equaliser against us in the last minute and we’ve kept an eye on him since then.
“We tried to sign him in the summer but couldn’t agree a fee with Lossiemouth.
“But he was coming to the end of his contract this summer and we made an approach to Lossiemouth at the same time as we did for Brodie Allen.
“Then last week things moved along and Ryan said he was keen to sign a pre-contract with us and things have moved from there.
“Jack MacIver going back to Aberdeen left a bit of a void in the middle of the pitch and it was always something we wanted to address in the summer.
“Ryan was somebody we had earmarked for the summer, but once he signed a pre-contract we opened discussions with Lossie and we’re grateful to Lossie for allowing him to come in now.
“He’s got a bit of time between now and the end of the season to get familiar with how we work.
“Ryan is a great signing and a player that’s only going to keep improving.
“We want young players who want to improve and he fits in with the type of signings we want to make at Huntly.”
New signing has right mentality
Hale believes Sewell will fit nicely into Huntly’s squad.
He added: “What we’re trying to do it is to take in players who want to develop from a footballing point of view.
“But also have ambitions to be as successful as they can within their careers whether that’s winning trophies or trying to step as far up the levels as they can.
“That’s the type of mentality we want to work with and we’re really lucky that we’ve got exactly that within our group.”
