Glenavon confirm signing of former Lincoln City trainee Bobby Deane

The 19-year-old makes the move to Mourneview Park after spending the season at Dergview, where he scored six goals from defence.

The left-sided centre-half, who can also operate at left-back and centre-midfield, was also previously on the books at Derry City and Lincoln City.

Speaking to Glenavon’s official website, boss Gary Hamilton said that his latest arrival reminds him of Micheal Glynn who left the Lurgan Blues to join Larne in January.

“He’s a big, strong boy who is technically very good,” he said.

“He was at Lincoln City when he turned 16 but unfortunately for him Covid held him back and he’s had a difficult time.

“Bobby spent pre-season at Coleraine but Oran Kearney felt it would be more beneficial for him to play men’s football rather than U20s as they had just signed Jarvis from Larne.

“He’s had a really good season at Dergview and by all accounts he’s been tipped as one of the best prospects in the league.

“We’ve had him watched by people that I trust and we’ve brought him up and he’s trained with us, so we’ve seen him with our own eyes.

“He reminds me as the same type of player as a Micheal Glynn where he’s tactically very good and left footed – he can play with both but he’s predominantly left footed.

“From what we’ve seen of him in training we think he could actually play left wing or centre midfield as well but we’ll get a better look in pre-season, get him some game time and find out his best position.”

Glenavon face Glentoran this evening at The Oval in the semi-final of the European play-off, with Hamilton providing an injury update on his squad.

“Obviously, Mark Haughey is out long term while Conor McCloskey is out with a hamstring injury. Marc Matthews is out too and unfortunately we’ve lost Calum Birney with a groin injury,” he added.

“There’s also a huge doubt over Jack Malone, so we’ve been hit hard this week.

“It is what it is and we’ll just get on with it.”