Forgotten ex-Sunderland, Rangers and Cardiff City man handed career lifeline in Scotland
The forgotten former Sunderland player has been handed a career lifeline in Scotland
Former Sunderland loanee Declan John has been handed a career lifeline in Scotland.
The full-back had been a free agent since leaving Bolton Wanders last summer following a loan with Salford City but has now signed a two-month deal with St Mirren until January after spending the beginning of the season without a club.
John joined Sunderland on loan from Swansea City in the January of 2020, and spent the second half of the 2019-20 campaign at the Stadium of Light. During that spell, he failed to make a single appearance for the first team on Wearside.
Predominantly a left-back, the 29-year-old has amassed seven senior caps for Wales throughout his career and has also spent time with the likes of Cardiff City, Salford City, and Scottish giants Rangers, where he worked with current Sunderland under-21s boss Graeme Murty.
John told the St Mirren website: “I’m absolutely delighted to be here. It’s been a crazy few days. I came up on Thursday, trained on Friday and went to watch the game on Saturday which was a great win for the boys. I’ve enjoyed it and I’m really looking forward to getting back into training. From walking in, everything has been so positive and you can feel that in the changing room. It feels like a really good place to be.”
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson added: “Declan is here on a short-term deal with a view to extending, depending on how it goes. The circumstances we find ourselves in means we’re very short of defence cover. Declan comes in with a vast amount of experience. He’s played at some very high levels and obviously been up in Scotland before as well so we’re very lucky that we’ve been able to get him in.
“We’ve seen his quality in his first couple of days in training. He’s a talented boy, is very good technically but he hasn’t played a lot of football in recent months so that’s something we need to look at and try to get him up to speed. To add to the squad with the quality and background Declan has then I believe we are very lucky at this stage of the season.”