Calm Jim Ervin addresses Patrick McEleney exit talk - 'he certainly won't be leaving us anyway'

The 32-year-old former City skipper announced his move to Warden Street shortly after the Brandywell club's FAI Cup final loss but is understood to be in line for a sensational return to Foyleside less than four weeks later.

It's believed Derry City and Ballymena United are discussing the finer details and perhaps any conflicts of interest in terms of McEleney's proposed coaching role under Lynch but nothing has yet been agreed.

Regardless, Ervin still expects the former City skipper to form an integral part of his squad in the New Year and can't wait for the experienced playmaker to be available for selection once the transfer window opens on January 1.

Lynch has also been linked with a move to bring Larne technical director Andrew Mitchell to his Derry City coaching team.

"There's nothing that I can elaborate on in terms of what I know," said Ervin. "As far as I'm aware Patrick is a Ballymena United player.

“The last conversation we've had was him signing.

"He's very much part of our squad moving forward. He certainly won't be leaving us anyway!"

McEleney made it clear he was intent on pursuing his coaching badges while playing part-time with the Sky Blues but while Ervin hasn't formally discussed the Shantallow man joining Lynch's coaching set-up, he doesn't see any issues fulfilling a player/coach role for different clubs.

"Listen, he's part-time with us and we train in the evenings...so obviously Derry are full-time and will be training during the day,” said Ervin. “There's many other players in our team that have daily jobs and then train with us in the evening.

"So I'm sure if Patrick is looking to get into other employment other than part-time football, if it's during the day, then that's that really.

"As long as it doesn't affect Ballymena United then he's capable of doing another job."

Ervin is in no doubt McEleney's experience and wealth of knowledge will be an invaluable asset for his team and he can fully understand why Lynch would want him as part of his backroom team.

"He has ambitions to coach, it's something we spoke about when I had a chat with him and when we were looking to bring him in but he's still a young enough player and has plenty of football left in the tank,” said Ervin. "That was the first thing he made clear to us was that he wants to continue to play football and feels he can add a lot to what we're looking to do and that's what he's looking forward to.

"He has aspirations of getting into coaching later on in his career.

"There's no two ways about it, a fella of his experience and stature will move into coaching and management at some point.

"And he's a local lad too for the likes of those guys (at Derry).

"I can understand why he's being talked about but in the conversations I've had with Patrick he's fully focused on Ballymena United.

"We can't wait until January to get him involved.

"He's been training with us for two weeks and we're looking forward to him being available to play for us because he will bring a lot of experience and quality to our team which is what we're crying out for.

"You can even see the levels of training since he's come in.

"It's given everybody a real boost and we're just itching to get him involved, get him on the pitch and playing."