Jabo And Dec Set For Reds

Last updated : 06 March 2015 By Rob Miles (BarnsleyBoy)

.........19-year-old left back John has arrived from Cardiff City and will remain at Oakwell until the 3rd May.

The Welsh international started his career with his boyhood team Cardiff, making his debut in a 2-1 Capitol One Cup defeat to Northampton in August 2012.

Since then John has made a further 34 appearances including 20 in the Premier League last season.

John has played 10 times for the Welsh side this season although not since a 3-2 defeat at Norwich in January.

John has represented his country at every level from Under 17 and had two caps for the senior side.

Johnson told the club’s official website:

“He’s young, but he’s a Wales international and played 20 Premier League games for Cardiff last year so he is reasonably experienced. Declan is very dynamic and very good on the ball and will give us good competition and help bring George Smith on as well. We need a left sider, I can play him up on if I need to, he can play wide left which is really another box I felt needed ticking and gives us a bit of natural balance. If anything happened to George it means you have got Nyatanga in left back and I don’t really like my centre halves having to play left or right back.”

Ibehre meanwhile is well known to Johnson having played for him on loan at Oldham this season.

The 32 year old started his career at Leyton Orient in 1996 and has played for seven clubs, three of which on loan.

He made 212 appearances for his home team Orient, scoring 36 goals in eight years between 2000 and 2008, before joining Walsall where he netted 10 times in 39 games.

Ibehre then moved to the MK Dons in 2009 and scored 12 times in 94 appearances whilst also spending time out on loan at Southend, Stockport and Colchester. He made a permanent move to Colchester in 2012 and has scored 16 times in 72 games but has spent most of this season on loan at Oldham where he scored twice in 12 appearances between October and January.

The striker who, like Declan John has joined until the 3rd May has not played for Colchester since the end of August but Johnson said:

“I felt we needed the option to go two up front. Obviously we have got Sam Winnall and George Waring who have done really well, but I wanted to have both clubs in my bag as far as two big lads who can get onto the ball, be aggressive in both boxes and a bit of a foil for our other strikers to play off. I couldn’t risk George either not making it through the amount of games because he is a young lad or not having one. It’s important for the way we play and the way I want to play.

 “Jabo is a good lad, experienced in the division and the best option available and a decent signing for our squad. I had him at Oldham at the start of the year and he is a very good professional. Any senior players we bring into the club have got to be guys who do their extra training, look after themselves properly and eat well because I want them to set an example to the other players and Jabo is a very good example of that.”