Barnsley have taken Paddy McCourt and Gary Dicker on trial as The Reds looked to bolster their ranks following a goal-less and pointless start to the 2013-2014 season.
29-year-old defender McCourt started his career with Rochdale and played with current Reds boss David Flitcroft in the early 2000’s. He spent three years in Ireland with Shamrock Rovers and Derry City before joining Scottish giants Celtic in 2008 and the Northern Ireland international made 66 appearances in five years at Celtic Park, winning two Scottish Premier League titles and two Scottish Cups.
He found games hard to come by in 2012-2013, and despite appearing in 20 games for Celtic, 16 of those were as a substitute, although his final game for the club was an 88th minute appearance in the 3-0 Scottish Cup Final victory over Hibernian.
27-year-old midfielder Dicker has just left Brighton after four years and 129 appearances on the South Coast. The former Republic of Ireland Under 21 international was an integral part of the Seagulls side that stormed to the League One title in 2010-2011, making 52 appearances in all competitions that season.
Meanwhile manager Flitcroft has confirmed the club have agreed, in principle, two loan deals with two strikers at Premier League clubs…. but they will not be finalised for another couple of weeks as the respective managers are yet to finalise their squads for the upcoming top flight season that kicks-off this weekend.
He told the press conference prior to Saturday’s match with Charlton:
“Hopefully something will happen before the end of the month,”
“Recruitment is always an ongoing process. Currently, it’s stretching every inch of this land and foreign soil.
“I spoke to two Premier League Managers yesterday regarding players. But there’s a sense they don’t know their first 16 yet. Things will become clearer in the next two weeks.
Rumours are one of those strikers is Liverpool’s 22 year old Daniel Pacheco who has made five appearances for the Anfield outfit since signing in 2007.